The Department of Homeland Security has made much progress in the last six years in overcoming its major management challenges, in particular moving from an organization in transition to one providing national border security and infrastructure protection, but more needs to be done to establish a “cohesive” and “effective” organization, the DHS Inspector General Office says in a new report.
“Six years later, the department is moving beyond operating as an organization in transition to a department diligently working to protect our borders and critical infrastructure, preventing dangerous people and goods from entering our country, and recovering from natural disasters effectively,” the IG says in its report, Major Management Challenges Facing the Department of Homeland Security (OIG-10-16).
However, in the past year, the department has made only limited progress overall in the select areas of acquisition management, information technology (IT) management, emergency management, grants management and financial management, says the report.
In the area of acquisition management, DHS has made progress the past year, notably in its acquisition workforce and policies and processes, the IG says. For its acquisition workforce, DHS has made more hires and improved training and has established an acquisition professional career program. The department has also improved the way it manages, awards and monitors contract funds, although more needs to be done, the report says.
In IT management, the DHS Chief Information Officer (CIO) has improved department-wide oversight of IT budgets although progress has been limited because some component agency CIOs don’t have “sufficient budget control and insight,” the IG says. The department has made more progress in the areas of enterprise architecture and strategic planning related to IT having finalized strategic plans and requesting funds to support the enterprise architecture program, the report says.