DHS Needs to Improve Annual Monitoring of Major Acquisition Programs to Ensure They Continue to Meet Department Needs

Date Issued

Friday, September 22, 2023

Submitting OIG

Department of Homeland Security OIG

Other Participating OIGs

Department of Homeland Security OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Department of Homeland Security

Report Number

OIG-23-55

Report Description

Once a major system is fully deployed, it transitions to the sustainment phase, where Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-11 provides guidance to Federal agencies to conduct an operational analysis (OA) periodically to ensure systems continue to perform as intended. From fiscal years 2018 through 2021, the Department of Homeland Security had 15 major systems that transitioned to sustainment and required OAs; these systems had operations and maintenance costs totaling about $1.1 billion in FY 2021.

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

Open Recommendations

This report has 3 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
1	No	$0	$0
We recommend the Under Secretary for Management require the Office of the Chief Information Officer, in consultation with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Cost Analysis Division, to issue an approved Operational Analysis Guidebook, to include, at a minimum: • Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-11 guidance for components to conduct an operational analysis for information technology and non–information technology systems; and • The most current life cycle cost estimate document as the cost baseline for assessing system cost performance.
2	No	$0	$0
We recommend the Under Secretary for Management issue an instruction manual for conducting an operational analysis.
3	No	$0	$0
We recommend the Under Secretary for Management require Coast Guard’s Nationwide Automatic Identification System program to implement an effective corrective action plan to identify (1) the root cause of the performance deficiencies and (2) the steps needed to meet the performance measure baselines identified in the Acquisition Program Baseline.