A House subcommittee that oversees management of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday unanimously approved by voice vote a bipartisan bill to reform, and in some cases codify, the acquisition processes and management at the department.
The DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act (H.R. 4228) was approved by voice vote by the House Homeland Security Oversight and Management Efficiency Subcommittee. The bill is a response to years of reports by government overseers such as the Government Accountability Office and the DHS Office of Inspector General warning the department’s acquisition programs have management challenges and are subject to waste, fraud and abuse.
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), chairman of the subcommittee, said at the outset of the mark-up many of DHS acquisition programs have been over budget, behind schedule and deliver less-than-expected results. He also said that proper acquisition management at DHS has “taken a backseat.”
The bill requires DHS to follow its existing acquisition directives, which currently are not implemented consistently across the department’s components. Under the proposed legislation, every major acquisition program must have an approved Acquisition Program Baseline document to measure performance, cost growth and schedule slips.
One amendment offered by Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), ranking member on the subcommittee, and approved by voice vote during Wednesday’s mark-up of the bill directs that all of the department’s agencies participate in the Acquisition Review Board (ARB) process to ensure high level oversight of all programs.
The ARB is supposed to be the ultimate decision-making body within DHS on acquisition programs.
Another set of amendments offered by Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) that were approved call for DHS to include life-cycle cost estimates and integrated master schedules for its programs, and to measure the effectiveness of the programs and technology that it acquires.
The panel also approved an amendment by Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) that would incentivize program managers to save money through improved accountability.