GAO-06-783R DHS Special Streamlined Acquisition Authority

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

June 20, 2006 

The Honorable Susan M. Collins 

Chairman 

The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Tom Davis 

Chairman 

The Honorable Henry A. Waxman 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Government Reform 

House of Representatives 

The Honorable Peter T. King 

Chairman 

The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Homeland Security 

House of Representatives 

Subject: Department of Homeland Security’s Use of Special Streamlined 

Acquisition Authorities in Section 833 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

In creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of September 

11, 2001, some in Congress were concerned that the Department might not be able to 

conduct acquisitions with sufficient speed, particularly in an emergency. To that end, 

Congress enacted section 833 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which provides 

DHS with special streamlined acquisition authorities. Before those authorities could 

be used, however, the Secretary of Homeland Security or a delegate would have to 

determine in writing that the DHS mission would be seriously impaired without the 

use of the authorities. The special streamlined acquisition authorities included: 

• Increasing the micro-purchase threshold from $2,500 to $7,500. Purchases 

below the micro-purchase threshold do not require competitive quotes or 

compliance with the “Buy America” act. Only certain employees would be 

authorized to make procurements under this authority. 
 

Page 2 GAO-06-783R DHS’s Use of Special Streamlined Acquisition Authority 

 

• Increasing the limit on the use of simplified acquisition procedures from 

$100,000 to $200,000 for contracts awarded and performed within the United 

States, and to $300,000 for contracts awarded and performed outside the 

United States. Simplified acquisition procedures permit agencies to use 

streamlined techniques to acquire good and services.1

• Increasing from $5,000,000 to $7,500,000 the ceiling on the use of special 

simplified procedures to acquire property and services the Secretary deems to 

be “commercial items” under federal procurement laws. 

These authorities are scheduled to expire on September 30, 2007. 

Section 833 of the act directed us to report on the Department’s use of these special 

streamlined acquisition authorities. Our objectives were to determine (1) the extent 

to which DHS has used the special authorities and (2) whether DHS sees a need to 

extend the authorities beyond September 2007. We conducted our review from April 

to May 2006 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

RESULTS 

The Department of Homeland Security has never used the special streamlined 

acquisition authorities provided in section 833. According to the Director of 

Acquisition Oversight at DHS, use of the special authorities has not been needed 

because existing authorities have been sufficient to meet DHS requirements. For 

example, the Department makes frequent use of the current $2,500 micro-purchase 

threshold and that threshold may increase up to $15,000 for domestic purchases 

made in support of a contingency operation if certain determinations are made. With 

respect to simplified acquisition procedures, the Department currently uses these 

procedures for nearly 2,000 procurements annually up to $100,000, and according to 

DHS, increasing the limit to $200,000 would make only 100 additional procurements 

eligible for these procedures. For these or other procurements, including those 

involving commercial items, there is authority under Part 16.603 of the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to award letter contracts in emergencies or other 

appropriate circumstances, up to the warranted level of the procurement official. 

Finally, DHS can use the flexibility provided by FAR Part 6.3, which provides for 

contracting without full and open competition if the required justifications and 

approvals are obtained. 

Agency officials also said that the increased authorities provided for under section 

833 are not worth the time and effort required to justify their use given the relatively 

modest increase in flexibility those authorities provide. Specifically, officials said that 

the approval procedures for using the authorities are time consuming and noted that 

1

 While simplified acquisition procedures promote competition to the maximum extent practicable, 

they are designed to: (1) reduce administrative costs; (2) improve opportunities for small, 

disadvantaged, and women-owned businesses to obtain a fair proportion of government contracts; 

(3) promote efficiency and effectiveness in contracting; and (4) avoid unnecessary burdens for 

agencies and contractors. Federal Acquisition Regulation, at 13.002. 
 

Page 3 GAO-06-783R DHS Special Streamlined Acquisition Authority 

approval can only be delegated to a presidential appointee who has been confirmed 

by the Senate. At this time, this limits the approving officials within the Department 

to just the Secretary, the Deputy Secretary, and the Under Secretary for Management. 

DHS officials told us that the Department has no interest in extending the special 

acquisition authorities of section 833. They believe the authorities should be allowed 

to expire at the end of September 2007. 

AGENCY COMMENTS 

We provided a draft of this letter to the Department of Homeland Security for its 

review and comment. Department officials indicated in an e-mail message that the 

letter was accurate and that the Department had no additional comments. 

We are sending copies of this letter to other interested congressional committees and 

Members, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security. We will make copies available 

to others upon request. In addition, it will be available at no charge on the GAO Web 

site at http://www.gao.gov. 

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact me at (202) 512-4841 or 

John Needham, Assistant Director, at (202) 512-5274. Contact points for our Office of 

Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this 

letter. Other contributors to this effort include Myra Watts Butler, John Krump, and 

Robert Swierczek. 

William T. Woods 

Director 

Acquisition and Sourcing Management 

(120534)
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