Summary
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program--the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on selected foreign nationals who travel to the United States. By congressional mandate, DHS is to develop and submit for approval an expenditure plan for US-VISIT that satisfies certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO. GAO was required to determine if the plan satisfied these conditions, follow up on recommendations related to the expenditure plan, and provide any other observations. To address the mandate, GAO assessed plans against federal guidelines and industry standards and interviewed the appropriate DHS officials.
The US-VISIT expenditure plan, related program documentation, and program officials' statements satisfied or partially satisfied each of the legislative conditions required by the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2006. For example, they satisfied the condition that the agency provide certification that an independent verification and validation agent is currently under contract for the program and partially satisfied the condition that US-VISIT comply with DHS's enterprise architecture. DHS also completed or partially completed each of GAO's prior expenditure plan-related recommendations. For example, the department completed recommendations that it provide an expenditure plan to the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Homeland Security before obligating restricted fiscal year funds and that it identify and disclose management reserve funding in those plans. However, DHS only partially completed recommendations that the plan fully disclose how the US-VISIT acquisition is being managed and that it fully disclose US-VISIT's cost, schedule, capabilities, and benefits. GAO identified several additional areas of concern. First, DHS has not adequately defined and justified its proposed fiscal year 2006 expenditures for pilot and demonstration projects aimed at collecting information on persons exiting the country at air, sea, and land borders. Second, DHS has continued to invest in US-VISIT without a clearly defined operational context that includes explicit relationships with related border security and immigration enforcement initiatives. Third, US-VISIT program management costs have risen sharply, while costs for development have decreased, without any accompanying explanation of the reasons. Overall, the US-VISIT fiscal year 2006 expenditure plan and other available program documentation do not provide a sufficient basis for Congress to exercise effective oversight of the program and to hold the department accountable for results. For proper oversight and accountability to occur, it is essential that DHS increase US-VISIT program transparency and accountability by justifying planned investments on the basis of adequate definition and disclosure of planned expenditures, timelines, capabilities, and benefits, and by effectively measuring and reporting progress against each. It is also essential for DHS to fully satisfy each of the conditions legislated by Congress, because doing so will minimize the program's exposure to risk.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Randolph C. Hite
Government Accountability Office: Information Technology
(202) 512-6256
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To ensure that US-VISIT is better defined and justified and that our prior recommendations aimed at instilling greater results-oriented performance management and accountability in the program are fully implemented, the Secretary of DHS should direct the US-VISIT Acting Program Director to report regularly to the Secretary and to the DHS authorization and appropriations committees on the range of program risks associated with not having fully satisfied all expenditure plan legislative conditions, reasons why they were not satisfied, and steps being taken to mitigate these risks.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open
Comments: The US-VISIT program office has not taken steps that fully address this recommendation. Since August 2007, it has regularly met with DHS officials in the National Protection and Programs Directorate and to the Deputy Secretary. Furthermore, US-VISIT stated that it periodically briefs authorization and appropriations committees on a range of program risks, including those associated with not having fully addressed all expenditure plan legislative conditions, reasons why these were not satisfied, and steps being taken to mitigate these risks. However, they did not provide verifiable evidence that these matters were discussed, and staff with the House and Senate appropriations committees that focus on US-VISIT told us that they were not aware of such briefings in which these matters were discussed.
Recommendation: To ensure that US-VISIT is better defined and justified and that our prior recommendations aimed at instilling greater results-oriented performance management and accountability in the program are fully implemented, the Secretary of DHS should direct the US-VISIT Acting Program Director to limit planned expenditures for exit pilots and demonstration projects until such investments are economically justified and until each investment has a well-defined evaluation plan. The projects should be justified on the basis of costs, benefits, and risks, and the evaluation plans should define what is to be achieved and should include a plan of action and milestones and measures for demonstrating achievement of pilot and project goals and desired outcomes.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Closed - implemented
Comments: DHS has taken actions that address this recommendation. Specifically, it reassessed its plans for an exit capability, including the exit pilots and demonstration project, and decided to discontinue the demonstration project in November 2006 and to cancel the exit pilots in May 2007.
Recommendation: To ensure that US-VISIT is better defined and justified and that our prior recommendations aimed at instilling greater results-oriented performance management and accountability in the program are fully implemented, the Secretary of DHS should direct the US-VISIT Acting Program Director to work with the DHS Enterprise Architecture Board to identify and mitigate program risks associated with investing in new US-VISIT capabilities in the absence of a DHS-wide operational and technological context for the program. These risks should reflect the absence of fully defined relationships and dependencies with related border security and immigration enforcement programs.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open
Comments: The US-VISIT program office has not taken steps that fully address this recommendation. Specifically, program officials attend regular DHS Enterprise Architecture Board meetings and provided us with copies of the meeting minutes from those meetings. However, the meeting minutes did not contain information on identifying and mitigating program risks associated with investing in new US-VISIT capabilities in the absence of a DHS-wide technological context for the program that defines, among other things, relationships and dependencies between US-VISIT and other border security and immigration enforcement programs.
Recommendation: To ensure that US-VISIT is better defined and justified and that our prior recommendations aimed at instilling greater results-oriented performance management and accountability in the program are fully implemented, the Secretary of DHS should direct the US-VISIT Acting Program Director to limit planned expenditures for program management-related activities until such investments are economically justified and have well-defined plans detailing what is to be achieved, include a plan of action and milestones, and should include measures for demonstrating progress and achievement of desired outcomes. The investments should be justified on the basis of costs, benefits, and risks.
Agency Affected: Department of Homeland Security
Status: Open
Comments: The US-VISIT program office has not taken steps that fully address this recommendation. Specifically, it has not provided either an economic justification or well-defined plans for its program management-related activities detailing what is to be achieved and including a plan of action and milestones and measures for demonstrating progress and achievement of desired outcomes. Moreover, the amount of funding for program management in fiscal year 2008 remains at the level mentioned in the fiscal year 2006 expenditure, which was the basis for this recommendation.
