Pursuit's Take
Each year, DHS invests billions of dollars in major acquisition programs. In fiscal year 2014, DHS planned to invest $10.7 billion in these programs. DHS’s acquisition management activities have been on GAO’s High Risk List, in part due to program management, funding, workforce, and requirements issues.
GAO found two of the 22 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programs it reviewed were on track to meet the initial schedule and cost parameters established after DHS’s current acquisition policy went into effect in November 2008. Fourteen programs had experienced schedule slips, or schedule slips and cost growth, including five programs GAO reviewed because they were at-risk of poor outcomes and nine others. These programs’ cost estimates increased by $9.7 billion, or 18 percent. GAO was unable to assess six programs because DHS leadership had not yet approved baselines establishing their schedules and cost estimates even though these baselines are required by DHS policy.