By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should adopt strategic sourcing principles for the various types of detection equipment it purchases, a move that would allow it to streamline its acquisition processes and boost efficiencies, the department’s Inspector General (IG) says in a new report.
The IG says that DHS lacks a logistics process that would enable it to do strategic sourcing of its equipment used to detect explosives, metals and radiation in baggage, people and cargo.
“Strategic sourcing would require that management standardize equipment purchases for explosive, metal, and radiation detection equipment; identify common mission requirements among components; and develop standard data elements for managing the inventory accounts of detection equipment,” says the report, DHS Department-Wide Management of Detection Equipment (OIG-11-47), which was released this week. “Improving its management of detection equipment will offer the department opportunities to streamline the acquisition process and improve efficiencies.”
The IG says that DHS already does strategic sources for certain commodities it purchases such as firearms, ammunition and office supplies.
DHS spent about $1.3 billion on detection equipment between 2007 and the first quarter of FY ’10 and maintains an inventory of detection equipment worth $3.2 billion, the IG says. The equipment has been purchased by eight different offices, seven of which are component agencies.
That widespread use of the equipment means there is a lack of coordination when it comes to making purchases, the IG says.
“There is no mechanism in place for components to standardize equipment purchases or identify common mission requirements among components,” the report says. “For example, the department’s Joint Requirements Council (JRC) is inactive, and components do not have the expertise of commodity councils or single-item managers to rely on when acquiring detection equipment. Further, components view detection equipment as unique to their missions and do not attempt to identify common mission requirements among other components. This results in numerous inefficient purchases by individual components instead of consolidated purchases.”
To help DHS improve its acquisition of detection equipment, it makes two recommendations. One is to reestablish the JRC and the other is to establish a commodity council for detection equipment to help with coordinating, communicating and strategic sourcing items at the department level and also standardizing purchases for similar detection equipment.
DHS, in its comments on a draft of the report, agreed in principle with the recommendations and said it is considering activating the JRC.