Department of Homeland Security

Office of Inspector General 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement 


Management Controls Over Detainee 


Telephone Services 


OIG-10-36 January 2010 
 

 

Office of Inspector General 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Washington, DC 20528 

 January 13, 2010 

Preface 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) was 

established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) by amendment 

to the Inspector General Act of 1978. This is one of a series of audit, inspection, and 

special reports prepared as part of our oversight responsibilities to promote economy, 

efficiency, and effectiveness within the department. 

This report addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement's management controls over detainee telephone services. It is based on 

interviews with employees and officials of relevant agencies and institutions, direct 

observations, and a review of applicable documents. 

The recommendations herein have been developed to the best knowledge available to our 

office, and have been discussed in draft with those responsible for implementation. We 

trust this report will result in more effective, efficient, and economical operations. We 

express our appreciation to all of those who contributed to the preparation of this report. 

Richard L. Skinner 


Inspector General 

 

Table of Contents/Abbreviations 

Executive Summary.............................................................................................................1
 

Background..........................................................................................................................2
 

Results of Audit ...................................................................................................................3
 

Considerable Progress Has Been Made to Assure Detainee Telephone Services, Yet 

More is Needed........................................................................................................3 


Recommendations..........................................................................................................6 


Management Comments and OIG Analysis ..................................................................6 


Appendices 

Appendix A: Purpose, Scope, and Methodology.........................................................8 


Appendix B: Management Comments to the Draft Report.......................................10 


Appendix C: Major Contributors to this Report........................................................12 


Appendix D: Report Distribution ..............................................................................13 


Abbreviations 

DHS Department of Homeland Security 


OIG Office of Inspector General 


ICE U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 


IGSA Intergovernmental Service Agreements 


COTR Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative 


Immigration and Customs Enforcement Management Controls 


Over Detainee Telephone Services 

 

 

OIG
 Department of Homeland Security 

Office of Inspector General 

Executive Summary 

This report presents the results of our audit to determine whether 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement information and 

communications management controls provide reasonable 

assurance that detainee telephone service is consistent with 

applicable standards and contract provisions. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made 

considerable progress in assuring detainees’ access to contractor 

telephone and pro-bono services at Service Processing Centers, 

Contractor Operated Facilities, and Intergovernmental Service 

Agreement sites where the majority of illegal aliens are detained. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has implemented 

layered procedures to monitor and test the status of telephone 

hardware and software and ensure pro-bono telephone numbers are 

updated and accurate. However, additional controls are needed to 

ensure contractor compliance with the financial provisions 

contained in the existing and future telephone services contracts 

and that individuals assigned to oversee these contracts are 

knowledgeable in financial matters. 

We are recommending that U.S. Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement develop and implement policies and procedures to 

ensure contractor compliance with all financial provisions 

contained in existing and future telephone services contracts. We 

are also recommending that U.S. Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement ensure that the individuals assigned to oversee these 

contracts are conversant in financial matters. U.S. Immigration 

and Customs Enforcement concurred with both recommendations. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Management Controls
 

Over Detainee Telephone Services
 

Page 1 
______________________________________________________________________________________ 

 

 

Background 

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement as the successor agency of Immigration and 

Naturalization Service currently operates 15 Service Processing 

Centers and Contractor Operated Facilities that are responsible for 

the care and custody of approximately 10,000 aliens. Most of 

these facilities operate a direct dial telephone system for the use of 

the detainee population. ICE also uses 215 Intergovernmental 

Service Agreements (IGSA) detention facilities located in state and 

local jurisdictions to accommodate an additional 20,000 detainees 

nationwide. ICE procures bed space at these sites at a prenegotiated per diem rate. In addition, ICE operates hold rooms in 

their field and sub-offices which presently do not offer telephone 

services. 

In 2000, the Immigration and Naturalization Service issued 

National Detention Standards that require ICE facilities and IGSA 

sites that hold detainees for more than 72 hours to provide 

detainees “reasonable and equitable access” to telephone services. 

These standards also authorize detainees free telephone calls to 

legal services providers, consular officials, and federal and state 

courts where the detainee is or may be involved in a legal 

proceeding. The requirement that detainees be permitted access to 

telephone services is still in force. 

In January 2004, DHS awarded a no-cost contract to replace the 

existing Detainee Telephone System. The contractor was 

responsible for installing, maintaining, and repairing the telephone 

system at ICE facilities, in addition to connecting outgoing “probono” calls under the detainee telephone system. The contractor 

was also responsible for providing access to pro-bono calls at 

IGSA sites where other vendors provide telephone services. The 

contract was structured as a no-cost to the government contract. 

The contractor was to recover operating expenses from profits 

derived from collect calls and debit card sales at 15 ICE facilities 

and 1 dedicated IGSA site. 

In fiscal year 2007, we, as well as the Government Accountability 

Office, reported instances of inoperable telephones and were 

unable to connect to pro-bono telephone numbers at detention 

facilities visited.1

 In May 2008, we reported that the contract did 

1 Alien Detention Standards, GAO-07-875, July 2007; Treatment of Immigration Detainees Housed at 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facilities, OIG-07-01, December 2006. 

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not require the contractor to furnish financial information nor 

validate call rates charged to detainees and remaining balances on 

unused calling cards.2 We also reported that the contract did not 

contain incentives to compel improved contractor performance. 

In 2008, ICE revised the detention standards to provide detainees 

reasonable and equitable access to "reasonably priced" telephone 

services in addition to previously mandated free call services. The 

revised standards were initially implemented at the eight Service 

Processing Centers and are scheduled for full implementation in 

early 2010 for the remaining detention facilities. 

Currently, all ICE facilities allow detainees controlled access to 

contractor-operated telephones to make both outgoing and 

pro-bono calls under the Detainee Telephone System. These 

detention facilities permit the use of calling cards, collect calls, and 

free preprogrammed calls. Additionally, all ICE facilities provide 

international calling capability. At IGSA sites, the contractor 

provides access to pro-bono calls only by using the facilities’ 

present telephone systems, where the local carriers do no provide 

pro-bono calls. 

Results of Audit 

Considerable Progress Has Been Made to Assure Detainee 

Telephone Services, Yet More is Needed 

ICE has made considerable progress in assuring detainees have access to 

telephone services at ICE facilities and IGSA sites where the majority of 

illegal aliens are detained. ICE implemented layered procedures to 

monitor and test the status of telephone hardware and software and ensure 

pro-bono telephone numbers are updated and accurate. In addition, the 

telephone services contractor voluntarily amended the contract to reduce 

fees charged for certain debit card calls and implemented a debit card 

refund process. However, ICE management controls ensuring contractor 

compliance with a variety of financial provisions contained in the existing 

telephone services contract could be improved. 

ICE officers and contracted compliance reviewers monitor and test 

compliance with National Detention Standards on a daily or weekly basis, 

and reside in the 37 largest detention facilities. ICE officers in field 

2 Review of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainee Telephone Services Contract, OIG-08-54, 

May 2008. 

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offices consolidate the test results and submit a summary status report to 

the agent located in ICE headquarters Detention Standards Compliance 

Unit that is assigned to perform Contracting Officer’s Technical 

Representative (COTR) duties.3 The COTR also monitors the progress of 

repair tickets resulting from service outages and inaccurate pro-bono 

telephone numbers until resolved. 

Although significant progress has been made to improve the development 

and execution of the telephone service contract, there continues to be a 

risk that detainees could be mischarged for these services. For example, 

the existing telephone services contract requires the contractor to produce 

the following financial information: 

�	 Call pricing information before and as a call is being 

processed; 

�	 Cost and call accounting and management reports; and 

�	 Call history, cost, and call accounting information on 

commonly used electronic media. 

While the existing telephone services contract requires the contractor to 

produce financial-related data, the COTR assigned to oversee the contract 

did not review this information. According to the COTR, it is in the 

service provider's best financial interest, in order to profit from the 

contract, to ensure that phones are working and that detainees are making 

as many collect and debit card calls as possible. For these reasons, the 

COTR said that the contract is "self-policing" and therefore the current 

level of oversight being provided is sufficient. 

However, the fact that it is in the contractor’s best interest to enable 

detainees to make as many debit card and collect calls as possible should 

be reason enough for ICE to closely monitor and evaluate the charges 

associated with these calls to ensure they were accurate and reasonable. 

As stated earlier, the telephone services contract contains schedules of the 

charges permitted for local and international debit and collect calls. 

Further, cost and call accounting and pricing data is being regularly 

provided to the government via a series of management reports. Despite 

evidence that detainees had, in the past, been inappropriately charged an 

additional fee to obtain access to a local telephone service,4

 the COTRs 

assigned to monitor the telephone services contract were neither 

monitoring nor evaluating contractor adherence to the contract’s financial 

3

 Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative is responsible for monitoring the contractor’s progress 

toward fulfilling technical requirements of the contract. 

4

 A former COTR disclosed that detainees in the Buffalo Federal Detention Center had once been charged 

an additional surcharge to connect to the local telephone service provider that was prohibited under the 

contract. 

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reporting requirements for accuracy and fairness. By their own admission, 

none of the COTRs interviewed were sufficiently knowledgeable to 

conduct the much-needed analyses. Assigning COTR's to the telephone 

services contract who have experience analyzing financial reports, or 

providing them access to staff with that skill would help authorities 

identify, document, and respond to any billing irregularities and provide 

assurances that the service provided remains accessible and charges 

accurate and reasonable. 

Recent Improvement 

In August 2007, ICE awarded a contract to provide support services to the 

onsite detention standard compliance capability of the Office of Detention 

and Removal. This contract was in effect through mid April 2009. In 

April 2009, DHS subsequently awarded a contract to the same contractor; 

however, the scope of the new contract was expanded to provide a greater 

level of service. For example, the new contract requires the use of subject 

matter experts in health care, safety, and security. The contract provides 

permanent compliance reviewers at 37 of the largest detention facilities 

where over 70% of detainees are held and teams of rovers to inspect the 

remaining IGSA sites based on a schedule agreed to by ICE. We reviewed 

compliance review guidelines used by these inspectors to determine how 

tests of telephone detention standards were to be performed. The 

guidelines include requirements that reviewers verify telephones are 

inspected daily, usage rules and operating instructions are posted, probono telephone numbers are accurate, and there is at least 1 telephone for 

each 25 detainees. Compliance inspection results are reported monthly to 

quarterly depending on the degree of use of a given facility to house ICE 

detainees. 

Grievance Process 

We reviewed monthly reports of compliance reviews conducted at 4 ICE 

facilities and quarterly inspections conducted at 1 smaller IGSA during 

June and July 2009 to determine whether inspections identified detainee 

complaints or grievances related to detainee telephone services. The 

compliance reviews reported no telephone-related complaints or 

grievances. 

Replacement Contract 

ICE has taken a number steps to improve detainee access to telephone and 

pro-bono services and to provide assurances that detainee grievances are 

identified and addressed in a timely manner. ICE incorporated these 

measures in the replacement telephone services contract implemented in 

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August 2009 after a protest of the May 2009 award was dismissed. The 

replacement contract includes performance incentives and requires the 

contractor to provide ICE management with monthly reports on financial 

issues, such as revenue, call volume, and refunds paid to detainees. If 

fully implemented, these measures should further improve the detainees’ 

access to telephone and pro-bono services. 

Recommendations 

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement: 

Recommendation #1: Develop and implement policies and 

procedures to review the financial aspects of the telephone services 

contract to ensure detainees are not being mischarged for telephone 

services. 

Recommendation #2: Ensure that individuals assigned to oversee 

the telephone services contract are fully capable of understanding 

and evaluating the financial data requirements associated with 

existing and future contracts. 

Management Comments and OIG Analysis 

ICE Comments to Recommendation #1: 

ICE concurred with this recommendation and plans to develop 

policies and procedures for monthly reporting by the contractor, 

monthly verification and spot checks by the COTR, and annual 

review comparing contract pricing to industry standards and 

market rates. ICE plans to have these policies and procedures in 

place within 30 days of the transition to its new telephone contract. 

The scheduled transition date is February 28, 2010. 

OIG Analysis 

ICE’s efforts to develop and implement standardized policies and 

procedures will improve its ability to conduct effective contract 

oversight. This recommendation is resolved, but will remain open 

until ICE completes and issues the policies and procedures to 

review financial aspects of the telephone services contract. 

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ICE Comments to Recommendation #2: 

ICE concurred with our recommendation and said it had contracted 

an industry expert capable of understanding and evaluating 

financial reports submitted by the contractor. The industry expert 

will assist with Contracting Officer and COTR oversight of the 

telephone services contractor’s performance. ICE said the current 

COTR is provided periodic financial management training. 

Further, ICE said it will coordinate with department and agency 

officials to ensure the COTR has additional technical support, if 

needed. 

OIG Analysis 

ICE’s use of contractors as technical agents and its commitment to 

provide its COTRs with financial management training will help 

ensure compliance with contractual financial data requirements. 

However, ICE’s use of contractors as technical agents does not 

relieve its COTRs of their oversight duties and responsibilities. 

This recommendation is resolved and closed. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Management Controls 


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Appendix A 

Purpose, Scope, and Methodology 

The objective of our audit was to determine whether ICE 

information and communications management controls provide 

reasonable assurance that detainee telephone service is consistent 

with applicable standards and contract provisions. 

We interviewed government officials and compliance inspection 

contractors at ICE headquarters in Washington, DC. A support 

contractor assigned to coordinate telephone repairs was 

interviewed via teleconference. Immigration Enforcement Agents 

and contract compliance inspectors were interviewed at the Krome 

Service Processing Center in Miami, Florida and the McHenry 

County Correctional Center in Woodstock, Illinois. 

We reviewed contract terms and conditions of the telephone 

services contract (COW-4-C-0122), compliance inspection 

contracts (HSCECR-09-C-00001, HSCECR-09-C-00004); and the 

solicitation for the replacement telephone services contract 

(HSCEDM-09-R-00009). We also reviewed the results of 

compliance inspections conducted by the contractors and telephone 

status reports prepared by ICE field agents for the period January 

through July 2009. 

We tracked how information travels between detention facilities, 

field offices, and ICE headquarters. We reviewed and compared 

(1) weekly telephone serviceability reports prepared by ICE field 

agents assigned to monitor conditions at detention facilities; (2) 

summary phone tracker reports prepared at Detention and Removal 

field offices; and, (3) Telephone Reports distributed at ICE 

headquarters. We analyzed these reports and the results of 

monthly, quarterly, and annual compliance inspections prepared by 

contract compliance reviewers. These included records of detainee 

complaints recorded by the DHS-OIG hotline to identify the types 

and frequency of complaints, telephone outages, and inaccurate 

pro-bono telephone numbers. 

We developed an understanding of internal controls over detainee 

telephone services by reviewing prior Government Accountability 

Office and DHS-OIG reports, reviewing National Detention 

Standards, and interviewing ICE officials assigned to oversee the 

telephone and the compliance inspection contracts. The 

understanding we gained was used to plan the audit and determine 

the nature, timing, and extent of tests to be performed. 

We conducted this performance audit between April 2008 and 

August 2009 under the authority of the Inspector General Act of 

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Appendix A 

Purpose, Scope, and Methodology 

1978, as amended, and according to generally accepted 

government auditing standards. Those standards require that we 

plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate 

evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the 

evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

We thank ICE and its contractors for their cooperation in the 

performance of this audit. 

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Appendix B 

Management Comments to the Draft Report 

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Appendix B 

Management Comments to the Draft Report 

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Appendix C 

Major Contributors to this Report 

Richard T. Johnson, Director, Immigration and Enforcement 

Division 

Robert Greene, Desk Officer, Immigration and Enforcement 

Division 

Mark Ferguson, Team Lead 

Marisa Coccaro, Analyst 

Andrew Herman, Auditor 

Armando Lastra, Auditor 

Sandra Ward-Greer, Auditor 

Gary Alvino, Independent Referencer 

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Appendix D 

Report Distribution 

Department of Homeland Security 

Secretary 

Deputy Secretary 

Chief of Staff for Operations 

Chief of Staff for Policy 

Deputy Chiefs of Staff 

General Counsel 

Executive Secretariat 

Director, GAO/OIG Liaison Office 

Assistant Secretary for Office of Policy 

Assistant Secretary for Office of Public Affairs 

Assistant Secretary for Office of Legislative Affairs 

ICE Audit Liaison 

Office of Management and Budget 

Chief, Homeland Security Branch 

DHS OIG Budget Examiner 

Congress 

Congressional Oversight and Appropriations Committees, as 

appropriate 

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND COPIES 

To obtain additional copies of this report, please call the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at (202) 254-4100, 

fax your request to (202) 254-4305, or visit the OIG web site at www.dhs.gov/oig. 

OIG HOTLINE 

To report alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement, or any other kind of criminal or noncriminal 

misconduct relative to department programs or operations: 

• Call our Hotline at 1-800-323-8603; 

• Fax the complaint directly to us at (202) 254-4292; 

• Email us at DHSOIGHOTLINE@dhs.gov; or 

• Write to us at: 

DHS Office of Inspector General/MAIL STOP 2600, 

Attention: Office of Investigations - Hotline, 

245 Murray Drive, SW, Building 410, 

Washington, DC 20528. 

The OIG seeks to protect the identity of each writer and caller.