Border Security: DHS's Efforts to Modernize Key Enforcement Systems Could be Strengthened
Published: 2013-12-05T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: DHS's border enforcement system, known as TECS, is the primary system available for determining admissibility of persons to the United States. It is used to prevent terrorism, and provide border security and law enforcement, case management, and intelligence functions for multiple federal, state, and local agencies. It has become increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain because of technology obsolescence and its inability to support new mission requirements. Accordingly, in 2008, DHS began an effort to modernize the system. It is being managed as two separate programs working in parallel by CBP and ICE.
GAO's objectives were to (1) determine the scope and status of the two TECS Mod programs, (2) assess selected CBP and ICE program management practices for TECS Mod, and (3) assess the extent to which DHS is executing effective executive oversight and governance of the two TECS Mod programs.
To do so, GAO reviewed requirements documents and cost and schedule estimates, and determined the current scope, completion dates, and life cycle expenditures. GAO also reviewed risk management and requirements management plans, as well as governance bodies' meeting minutes.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has defined the scope for its TECS (not an acronym) modernization (TECS Mod) program, but its schedule and cost continue to change; while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is overhauling the scope, schedule, and cost of its program after discovering that its initial solution is not technically viable. CBP's $724 million program intends to modernize the functionality, data, and aging infrastructure of legacy TECS and move it to DHS's data centers. CBP plans to develop, deploy, and implement these capabilities between 2008 and 2015. To date, CBP has deployed functionality to improve its secondary inspection processes to air and sea ports of entry and, more recently, to land ports of entry in 2013. However, CBP is in the process of revising its schedule baseline for the second time in under a year. Further, portions of CBP's schedule remain undefined and the program does not have a fully developed master schedule. These factors increase the risk of CBP not delivering TECS Mod by its 2015 deadline. Regarding ICE's $818 million TECS Mod program, it is redesigning and replanning its program, having determined in June 2013 that its initial solution was not viable and could not support ICE's needs. As a result, ICE halted development and is now assessing design alternatives and will revise its schedule and cost estimates. Program officials stated the revisions will be complete in December 2013. Until ICE completes the replanning effort, it is unclear what functionality it will deliver, when it will deliver it, or what it will cost to do so, thus putting it in jeopardy of not completing the modernization by its 2015 deadline.
CBP and ICE have managed many risks in accordance with some leading practices, but they have had mixed results in managing requirements for their programs. In particular, neither program identified all known risks and escalated them for timely management review. Further, CBP's guidance defines key practices associated with effectively managing requirements, but important requirements development activities were underway before these practices were established. ICE, meanwhile, operated without requirements management guidance for years, and its requirements activities were mismanaged as a result. For example, ICE did not complete work on 2,600 requirements in its initial release, which caused testing failures and the deferral and deletion of about 70 percent of its original requirements. ICE issued requirements guidance in March 2013 that is consistent with leading practices, but it has not yet been implemented.
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) governance bodies have taken actions to oversee the two TECS Mod programs that are generally aligned with leading practices. Specifically, DHS's governance bodies have monitored TECS Mod performance and progress and have ensured that corrective actions have been identified and tracked. However, the governance bodies' oversight has been based on sometimes incomplete or inaccurate data, and therefore the effectiveness of these efforts is limited. For example, one oversight body rated CBP's program as moderately low risk, based partially on the program's use of earned value management, even though program officials stated that neither they nor their contractor had this capability. Until these governance bodies base their performance reviews on timely, complete, and accurate data, they will be constrained in their ability to effectively provide oversight.
section_title: What GAO Recommends
paragraphs: GAO is recommending DHS improve its efforts to manage requirement and risk, as well as its governance of the TECS Mod programs. DHS agreed with all but one of GAO's eight recommendations, and described actions planned and underway to address them.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) border enforcement  system, known as TECS (not an acronym), is used for preventing  terrorism, providing border security and law enforcement, and sharing  information about people who are inadmissible or may pose a threat to  the security of the United States. Originally developed in the 1980s,  TECS provides traveler processing and screening, investigations, case  management, and intelligence functions for multiple federal, state, and  local agencies. Over time, it has become increasingly difficult and  expensive to maintain because of technology obsolescence and its  inability to support new mission requirements. DHS estimates that  TECS’s licensing and maintenance costs are expected to be $40 million  to $60 million per year in 2015. In 2008 the department initiated TECS  Modernization (TECS Mod) to modernize existing system functionality,  address known capability gaps, and move the program’s infrastructure to  DHS’s new data centers. TECS Mod is managed as two separate  programs working in parallel: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are each modernizing  legacy functionality specific to their respective roles and missions within  the department. Both programs intend to be fully operational by  September 2015.
Our objectives for this review were to (1) determine the scope and status  of the two TECS Mod programs, (2) assess selected CBP and ICE  program management practices for TECS Mod, and (3) assess the extent  to which DHS is executing effective executive oversight and governance  of the two TECS Mod programs.
To address our objectives, we reviewed documentation from both  programs, including requirements documents and program cost and  schedule estimates, and determined what the current program scope,  completion dates, and life-cycle expenditures were expected to be for  each program. To assess selected CBP and ICE program management  practices for the programs, we examined program documentation, such  as risk management and requirements management plans and  processes, and compared them to relevant guidance from leading  practitioners, such as the Carnegie Mellon University’s Software  Engineering Institute, assessed program-identified risks/issues and  mitigation plans to determine whether risk is being effectively managed;  and examined requirements documentation to determine the extent to  which stakeholder requirements have been effectively integrated into  program capabilities. To assess the extent to which DHS is executing  effective executive oversight and governance of the two TECS Mod  programs, we analyzed documentation such as executive steering  committee meeting minutes and compared meeting results to relevant  guidance such as our Information Technology Investment Management  Framework  to determine to what extent DHS’s governance bodies are  providing effective oversight.
We conducted this performance audit from December 2012 to September  2013, in accordance with 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. Details on our objectives,  scope, and methodology can be found in appendix I.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: DHS’s mission is to lead the unified national effort to secure the United  States by preventing and deterring terrorist attacks and protecting against  and responding to threats and hazards to the nation. As part of that  mission, DHS is responsible for ensuring that the nation’s borders are  safe and secure, that they welcome lawful immigrants and visitors, and  that they promote the free flow of commerce. Within the department, CBP  is responsible for customs, immigration, and agricultural processing at  ports of entry. ICE is responsible for the investigation and enforcement  of border control, customs, and immigration laws.
subsections: section_title: Overview of the TECS System
paragraphs: TECS is an information technology (IT) and data management system  that supports DHS’s core border enforcement mission. According to CBP,  it is one of the largest, most important law enforcement systems currently  in use, and is the primary system available to CBP officers and agents  from other departments for use in determining the admissibility of persons  wishing to enter the country. In addition, it provides an investigative case  management function for activities carried out by ICE agents, including  money-laundering tracking and reporting; telephone data analysis; and  intelligence reporting and dissemination.
Over time, TECS has evolved into a multifaceted computing platform that  CBP describes as a system of systems. This mainframe-based system  interfaces with over 80 systems from within DHS, and federal  departments and their component agencies, as well as state, local, and  foreign governments. It contains over 350 database tables, queries and  reports (e.g., querying law enforcement records to determine if a traveler  appears on a terrorist watch list), and multiple applications (e.g., ICE’s  existing investigative case management system). CBP agents and other  users access TECS via dedicated terminals. The system is managed by  CBP’s Office of Passenger Systems Program Office and is currently  hosted at CBP’s datacenter.
By 2015, CBP estimates that TECS will contain over 1.1 terabytes of  data, including over 46 million lookout records—nearly 25 million records  relating to the travel documents of permanent residents and refugees,  and the border-crossing history for close to a billion travelers. On a daily  basis, the system is used by over 70,000 users and handles more than 2  million transactions—including the screening of over 900,000 visitors and  approximately 465,000 vehicles every day. In addition, federal, state,  local, and international law enforcement entities use TECS to create and  disseminate alerts and other law enforcement information about “persons  of interest.” Ten federal departments and their numerous component  agencies access the system to perform a part of their missions. Figure 1  shows the federal departments and component agencies that use TECS.  Appendix III contains a description of the key systems and data resident  on the existing (legacy) platform.
The current TECS system uses obsolete technology, which combined  with growing mission requirements, have posed operational challenges  for CBP and others. For example, users may need to access and  navigate among several different systems to investigate, resolve, and  document an encounter with a passenger. In addition, CBP identified that  TECS’ search algorithms do not adequately match names from foreign  alphabets. TECS’ obsolescence also makes it difficult and expensive to  maintain and support. For example, DHS estimates that TECS’s licensing  and maintenance costs are expected to be $40 million to $60 million per  year in 2015.
section_title: Overview of TECS Modernization, Management Structure, and Acquisition Approach
paragraphs: In 2008, DHS initiated efforts to modernize TECS capability by replacing  the mainframe technology, developing new applications and enhancing  existing applications to address expanding traveler screening mission  needs, improving data integration to provide enhanced search and case  management capabilities, and improving user interface and data access.  DHS plans to migrate away from the existing TECS mainframe by  September 2015 to avoid significantly escalating support costs.
The modernization effort is managed by two program offices—CBP and  ICE—working in parallel, with each having assumed responsibility for  modernizing the parts of the system aligned with their respective  missions. CBP’s modernization program office organizationally resides  within its Office of Information and Technology’s Passenger Systems  Program Office. This office is responsible for systems that support DHS’s  and CBP’s screening and processing of travelers at U.S. ports of entry,  including TECS. ICE’s TECS modernization program office resides within  ICE’s Office of Chief Information Officer. It is responsible for modernizing  ICE’s IT systems, adapting and conforming to modern IT management  disciplines, and providing IT solutions throughout ICE. Homeland Security  Investigations Executive Steering Committee provides oversight to the  ICE TECS Mod program, including approval and prioritization of  requirements, functionality, and decisions on cost, schedule, and  performance.
As of July 2013, CBP’s program office consisted of approximately 80  staff, split roughly evenly between government and contractor staff, and  ICE’s program office consisted of about 74 staff—of which 19 are  government and 55 are contractors.
In June 2008, CBP awarded a 1-year development contract for its  modernization program. From 2009 to 2012, CBP continued its  relationship with the same contractor, but awarded a different contract for  development services across a range of CBP IT programs. This contract  was managed by the Passenger Systems Program Office. The  development contractor is to provide, among other things, requirements  analysis, system development, and testing; system component migration  from development to testing and subsequently to production; operation  and maintenance; technical reviews participation; and the development of  related documentation as needed. CBP exercised its options on this  contract from 2009 to 2012. In January 2013, CBP had issued a new  contract for development services, but canceled the award shortly  thereafter to make revisions. CBP officials said that the program  continues to move forward with plans to complete the development  contract award and plans to award the new contract during the fall of  2013. Until then, CBP is continuing to work with the existing contractor. In  addition, CBP also contracted separately with other vendors for computer  hardware (e.g., servers), as well as for program management support,  financial support services, and communications services.
The ICE program office’s contracting strategy includes the government as  the primary integrator of multiple contractors. ICE awarded its  development contract in September 2011. The contract was a 1-year  contract with four 1-year option years. The development contractor is to  provide, among other things, software design and development services,  testing services, information security controls, and technical support. In  addition, ICE has established separate contracts for training, data  migration, and program management support.
section_title: DHS Governance and Oversight of Major IT Programs
paragraphs: DHS’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Office of the  Under Secretary for Management play key roles in overseeing major  acquisition programs like TECS Mod. For example, the CIO’s  responsibilities include setting departmental IT policies, processes, and  standards; and ensuring that IT acquisitions comply with DHS IT  management processes, technical requirements, and approved enterprise  architecture, among other things. Within the Office of the CIO, the  Enterprise Business Management Office has been given primary  responsibility for ensuring that the department’s IT investments align with  its missions and objectives. As part of its responsibilities, this office  periodically assesses IT investments to gauge how well they are  performing through a review of program risk, human capital, cost and  schedule, and requirements.
In October 2011, DHS’s Under Secretary for Management established the  Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management (PARM). The  office is to ensure the effectiveness of the overall program execution  governance process and has the responsibility for developing and  maintaining DHS’s Acquisition Management Directive. It is also  responsible for providing independent assessments of major investment  programs—called a Quarterly Program Accountability Report, and  identifying emerging risks and issues that DHS needs to address.
In December 2011, DHS introduced a new initiative to improve and  streamline the department’s IT program governance. This initiative  established a tiered governance structure for program execution. Among  other things, this new structure includes a series of governance bodies,  each chartered with specific decision responsibilities for each major  investment. Among these are executive steering committees, which serve  as the primary decision-making authorities for DHS’s major acquisition  programs. The steering committees, which are generally chaired by  officials from the DHS agency responsible for the acquisition, are  responsible for providing guidance to program management offices,  approving program milestone documentation, and making important  program execution decisions, as requested by the program manager  and/or key stakeholders.
In September 2011, ICE chartered an executive steering committee  responsible for overseeing its TECS modernization program. ICE’s  committee is chaired by the Deputy Associate Director of Homeland  Security Investigations and includes voting representation from CBP, as  well as other stakeholders. Members include DHS’s CIO and Chief  Financial Officer, stakeholder groups (such as U.S Citizenship and  Immigration Services), and CBP’s TECS Mod Program Manager. The  steering committee has been meeting since December 2011.
In early 2013, CBP developed an executive steering committee with  responsibility for overseeing its TECS modernization effort. It held its first  governance meeting in February 2013 and is chaired by CBP’s Assistant  Commissioner, Office of Information and Technology, and Chief  Information Officer/Lead Technical Authority. Members include DHS’s  Under Secretary for Science and Technology, CIO, and Chief Financial  Officer; as well as representatives from stakeholder groups and ICE’s  TECS Mod Program Manager.
Figure 2 shows the relationships between the oversight and governance  boards involved with the two programs.
section_title: GAO Previously Reported on DHS’s Management of IT Investments, Including TECS Modernization
paragraphs: We have previously reported on DHS’s management of its major  investments generally, and the management and development of TECS  modernization specifically.
In July 2012, we reported that DHS had introduced a new IT  governance framework that was generally consistent with recent  Office of Management and Budget guidance and with best practices  for managing projects and portfolios identified in our IT Investment  Management framework. Specifically, of the nine practices in the  framework, we found that the department’s new governance  framework partially addressed two and fully addressed seven others.  For example, consistent with Office of Management and Budget  guidance calling for the CIO to play a significant role in overseeing  programs, DHS’s draft procedures required that lower-level boards  overseeing IT programs include the DHS CIO, a component CIO, or a  designated executive representative from a CIO office. In addition,  consistent with practices identified in the framework, DHS’s draft  procedures identified key performance indicators for gauging portfolio  performance. However, it had not completed its policies and  procedures, because, according to department officials, the focus had  been on piloting the new governance process. We recommended that  DHS finalize associated policies and procedures, and fully follow best  practices for implementing the process. DHS concurred with our  recommendations.
Regarding the performance of the TECS modernization effort, in a  September 2012 report, we noted that CBP’s program encountered  delays because program officials needed to develop new  requirements to accommodate users’ requests to interface with an  additional system. Additional delays were caused by questions about  whether the system duplicated functions performed by another  agency system. We recommended that DHS guidance address  shortcomings and develop corrective actions for all major IT  investment projects having cost and schedule shortfalls, including  TECS Mod. DHS agreed with our recommendation.  In September 2011, we reported that CBP modernization program  officials reported delays in completing required program  documentation due, in part, to their not understanding the approval  processes at the department level. We further noted that, although the  program had recently been reviewed and approved by the DHS  acquisition review board, CBP’s program office had not completed  the required acquisition plan the board typically uses to evaluate  system effectiveness and alignment with the agency’s mission. In  addition, the program had not yet completed privacy impact  assessments that covered the entire program. We recommended that  DHS address these shortfalls and the department concurred.
section_title: CBP TECS Modernization Scope Defined, Schedule and Cost of Both Modernization Programs Are Unclear
paragraphs: CBP has defined the scope for its modernization program, but its  schedule and cost continue to change and are being revised. Further, ICE  is overhauling the scope, schedule, and cost of its program after  discovering that its initial solution is not technically viable. Thus, it is  unclear whether these programs are on track to deliver planned  functionality by September 2015.
subsections: section_title: CBP Has Defined the Scope of Its TECS Modernization Program; but Schedule and Cost Commitments Are Uncertain
paragraphs: CBP has defined the scope of its program to include the replacement of  its aging current mainframe-based platform with a mixture of hardware,  and custom-developed and commercial software. Further, CBP plans to  move data from the legacy TECS system to databases hosted at DHS’s  data centers and to use DHS’s network infrastructure. CBP expects that  its modernization efforts will yield certain improvements over the existing  system, including the following.
Enhancements to TECS’ search algorithms to better match names  from foreign alphabets; address gaps in current processes that could  result in missing a person of interest. This includes an improved ability  for inspectors to update information on travelers at air and sea  borders at the time of encounter.  Improvements in the flow and integration of data between CBP and its  partner agencies and organizations. This is intended to aid the  agency’s inspectors by providing timely, complete, and accurate  information about a traveler during the secondary inspection process.
CBP planned to develop, deploy, and implement these capabilities  incrementally across five projects from 2008 to 2015.
Secondary Inspection: This project is to support processing of  travelers referred from primary inspection for either enforcement or  administrative reasons. According to CBP, this project’s functionality  was fully deployed to all air and sea ports of entry in 2011, and was  fully deployed to all land ports of entry in 2013.
High Performance Primary Query and Manifest Processing: This  project is intended to improve TECS data search results in order to  expedite the processing of manifests from individuals traveling to the  United States on commercial or private aircraft, and commercial  vessels. It is to be fully operational by March 2015.
Travel Document and Encounter Data: This project is intended to  improve CBP’s ability to query and validate travel documentation for  both passengers and their means of conveyance. It is to be fully  operational by March 2015.
Lookout Record Data and Services: This project is intended to  improve the efficiency of existing data screening and analyses  capabilities. It is to be fully operational by March 2015.
Primary Inspection Processes: This project is intended to modernize  the overall inspection process and provide support for additional or  random screening and communication functions. It is to be fully  operational by March 2015.
As part of each of these projects, CBP is also developing an online  access portal, called TECS Portal, for authorized users to access  information remotely using a modern web- browser, along with security  and infrastructure improvements, and the migration of data from the  current system to databases in the new environment at the DHS  datacenter. Ultimately, TECS Mod functionality is to be deployed to over  340 ports of entry across the United States.
To date, Secondary Inspection is operational approximately 6 months  earlier than was estimated in the program’s 2012 acquisition program  baseline. In addition, CBP reports that a portion of the High Performance  Primary Query and Manifest Processing project is also operational. The  remaining projects are all scheduled to be operational by March 2015.  Appendix IV provides additional information about these projects.
However, the program is revising its schedule and cost baselines, making  its remaining commitments uncertain. Specifically, the program is revising  its acquisition program baseline for a second time in under a year. In  particular, CBP revised the program’s initial acquisition program baseline  in November 2012, establishing new commitments for the program’s cost  and schedule for each of the projects, as well as the program overall.  According to program officials in June 2013, CBP is in the process of  again revising its program baseline, and plans to do so by September  2013. Officials explained that this time, CBP is revising its commitments  to reflect actual cost and schedule data gathered since its last revision.
The completion dates for each of CBP’s five projects have changed over  time. Specifically, four of the projects are scheduled to be delivered later  than originally planned and one project—Primary Inspection Processes— is scheduled to be completed ahead of the initial schedule. For example,  according to the October 2009 program plan, Secondary Inspection was  to be operational in September 2012. That operational date was then  modified in the program’s acquisition program baseline (which was  approved in October 2010) to be June 2013 (9 months later than  originally scheduled). Then, in May 2011, CBP notified DHS that it was  going to miss the deadline for several of its schedule milestones,  including Secondary Inspection. As a result, CBP revised its schedule  baseline for TECS Mod in November 2012; the new operational date for  the project was to be March 2014. That date was reiterated in the CBP- ICE Joint Integration Process document, signed by CBP and ICE program  management, upon its release in April 2013. However, shortly  thereafter, the program again revised the operational date to be  September 2013. Figure 3 illustrates the changes to CBP’s schedules for  the five projects over time.
Exacerbating the rebaselining and the schedule changes over time is the  fact that CBP has not fully developed its master schedule to manage work  activities and to monitor the program’s progress. Our research has  identified, among other things, that a key element associated with a  complete and useful schedule or roadmap for executing a program such  as TECS Mod is to logically sequence all work activities so that start and  finish dates of future activities, as well as key events based on the status  of completed and in-progress activities, can be reliably forecast. While  the program office has developed high-level schedules for each of its  projects, officials explained that the program has not fully defined and  documented all the linkages between work activities within the individual  project schedules, nor have they defined dependencies that exist  between projects in the master schedule. The program’s master schedule  provided to us in May 2013 showed that approximately 65 percent of  CBP’s remaining work activities were not linked with other associated  work activities. Without these linkages, activities that slip early in the  schedule do not transmit delays to activities that should depend on them,  and a critical path cannot be determined, which means that  management is unable to determine how a slip in the completion date of a  particular task may affect the overall project schedule. Moreover, as of  June 2013, the program had not yet developed a detailed schedule for  the last project, Primary Inspection Processes, nor had it completed a  detailed schedule for parts of the second project, High Performance  Primary Query. Instead of managing from a fully developed master  schedule, officials explained that they manage the program according to  the milestones in the program’s acquisition program baseline, and do so  by sharing information about project and program dependencies at  meetings between project teams. However, the lack of a complete  schedule raises questions about the validity of the milestones in its  acquisition program baseline, and the certainty of the program’s schedule  commitments.
Furthermore, the program’s current schedule assumes the concurrent  delivery of four of the five projects. As we have previously reported, the  concurrent development of system components (e.g., the five TECS  modernization projects) introduces risks that could adversely impact  program cost and schedule. Such risks include the contention for  limited resources. For the CBP TECS modernization program, these risks  may be realized. In particular, program officials told us that development  work for the Primary Inspection Processes was halted because of  anticipated funding shortfalls due to sequestration. However, when the  funding shortfalls were not realized, the program was unable to initiate  Primary Inspection Processes development because, according to the  Passenger Systems Program Office Executive Director, the program’s  contractor resources had been diverted to other projects and shifting  those resources back to Primary Inspection Processes would affect work  on these projects. The Executive Director further stated that if work on  Primary Inspection did not begin by January 2014, the program would not  meet its operational date of September 2015.
Program officials said that reasons for the schedule weaknesses include  a lack of appropriate and skilled resources. Specifically, program officials  stated that the program has only two staff members with skills needed to  develop and maintain the schedules, and that fully documenting all the  dependencies would be time consuming and not worth the effort because  in their view, the limitations in the integrated master schedule were not  sufficient to warrant the additional resources that would be necessary to  fix them. However, without a complete and integrated master schedule  that includes all program work activities and associated dependencies,  CBP is not in a position to accurately determine the amount of time  required to complete its TECS modernization effort and develop realistic  milestones. Moreover, the program does not have a basis for guiding the  projects’ execution and measuring progress, thus increasing the agency’s  risk of not meeting the program’s completion dates.
Similar to TECS Mod’s schedule milestones, the program’s cost  estimates have also changed as a result of rebaselining, and are currently  being revised. The program’s current baselined life-cycle cost estimate  is approximately $724 million, including $31 million for planning  management, $212 million for development, and $481 million for  operations and maintenance. However, as previously stated, the program  is in the process of revising its estimate. As of August 2013, the program  reported that it had expended about $226 million—approximately $170  million for planning/program management and development/acquisition,  and $56 million for operations and maintenance.
While officials reaffirmed their intention to complete the whole program by  the 2015 deadline, the program faces the risk of not doing so because its  specific schedule milestones for each of the projects are based on  incomplete schedule information and concurrency among the projects has  resulted in competition for the same contracting resources. Moreover,  while the program is pending rebaselining, it is unclear when the program  actually intends to deliver functionality, or how much it will cost to do so.
section_title: ICE Established TECS Modernization’s Scope, Schedule, and Costs, but Technical Issues Have Caused ICE to Overhaul Its Design and Commitments
paragraphs: ICE initially defined the scope of its TECS modernization effort to include  specific law enforcement and criminal justice information functions; tools  to support ICE officers’ collection of information, data analysis, and  management operations; enhanced capabilities to access and create data  linkages with information resources from elsewhere in DHS and other law  enforcement agencies; and capabilities to better enable investigative and  intelligence operations, corresponding management activities, and  information sharing. Further, ICE established plans to deliver functionality  in two phases, Core Case Management and Comprehensive Case  Management, each of which was to contain several releases. Specifically:
Phase 1: Core Case Management: This phase was to encompass all  case management functions currently included in the existing system.  ICE planned to develop and deploy these functions in three releases  beginning in 2009, and was scheduled to deploy Release 1 by  December 2013, with additional releases following about every 12  months, in order to achieve independence from the existing TECS  platform by September 2015. Specific capabilities that were to be  provided include: basic electronic case management functions, including opening  cases, performing supervisory review of cases, and closing cases  within the system; development of reports for use as evidentiary material in court  proceedings arising from ICE agents’ investigations; maintenance of records relating to the subjects of ICE  investigations; and audit capabilities to monitor system usage.
Phase 2: Comprehensive Case Management: This phase was to  expand on the features delivered as part of phase one and to be  delivered in four increments starting in 2016, with an estimated  completion date in fiscal year 2017.
Regarding costs, ICE’s baselined life-cycle cost estimate is  approximately $818 million, including about $17 million for planning,  roughly $328 million for development and acquisition, and approximately  $473 million for operations and maintenance.
However, in 2012 the program began to experience technical issues,  which resulted in a delay of approximately 7 months and the deferral or  removal of functionality from Release 1. Specifically, ICE decided in 2012  that Release 1 would only provide functionality for the “person” type of  subject records; all the other types of subject records have been deferred  to future releases. Then, in October 2012, the agency conducted a  review of the program’s remaining work for Release 1 to determine  whether, in light of increasing rates of program defects and a slowdown in  the program’s overall progress, ICE was positioned to deliver Release 1  as planned. Based on the review results, the agency deferred or  eliminated approximately 3,000 out of the 4,300 in-scope requirements  (about 70 percent of the original total) in order for the program to meet its  planned schedule commitments. Such functionality includes the capability  to perform supervisory review of cases and certain electronic notifications  and alerts.
Faced with continuing technical issues and related delays, ICE’s program  manager said that the program initiated a second program review in  January 2013 at the direction of its executive steering committee and with  participation from the program office, the contractor, and Homeland  Security Investigations. Based on the review results, the program office  determined in June 2013 that the system under development was not  technically viable and would not be fielded as part of ICE’s final solution  due to ongoing technical difficulties relative to the user interface, access  controls, and case-related data management. Instead of continuing with  the current technical solution, the program manager explained that, after  having spent approximately $19 million in acquisition/development costs  on the original solution, the program would seek alternatives and start  over. The program manager said ICE is now assessing such alternatives,  including a revised technical approach offered by the current  development contractor, as well as other off-the-shelf solutions in use at  other agencies. According to the program manager, significant portions of  the previous solution’s data migration and infrastructure-related  components might be salvaged for reuse in whatever new solution is  chosen. But, depending on the approach selected, most of the user  interfaces, security components, and business rules that have been  developed for the program to date are unlikely to be reused.
The program manager stated that the program intends to decide which  course it will pursue by October 2013, and based on that decision, it will  update the program’s life-cycle cost estimate, schedule, and requirements  documents (as needed). Further, he stated that ICE intends to proactively  revise its May 2011 acquisition program baseline before it breaches at the  end of December 2013 and reaffirmed the agency’s intention to deploy a  solution by the 2015 deadline. In the meantime, according to the program  manager, ICE has largely halted development work and it will be January  2014 at the earliest before any new development work begins. Given the  time lost in developing the current technical solution, as well as the  already reduced program scope, ICE cannot say what specific features it  will release to users, what its schedule for deploying this functionality will  be, or how much such efforts will cost. Without clearly defining these  commitments, ICE is at risk of not achieving independence from the  existing system by 2015.
section_title: TECS Modernization’s Risk Management Is Generally Consistent with Leading Practices, but Requirements Management Has Had Mixed Results
paragraphs: Both agencies have generally implemented risk management practices,  but they have had mixed results in managing requirements for their  programs. While they have managed many of the risks in accordance  with recognized leading practices, neither agency has identified all known  risks and escalated them for timely review by senior management.  Further, while CBP’s requirements management processes and practices  are largely consistent with leading practices, key requirements activities  were well underway before such practices were established. In addition,  ICE was operating without documented requirements management  guidance for several years, and its requirements development and  management activities were mismanaged as a result. ICE has recently  developed guidance that is consistent with leading practices, but has not  yet implemented it.
subsections: section_title: CBP and ICE Have Generally Implemented Risk Management Practices
paragraphs: Risk management is a process for anticipating problems and taking  appropriate steps to mitigate risks and minimize their impact on project  commitments. According to relevant guidance, effective risk  management practices include, among other things: establishing and documenting risk management strategies; assigning roles and responsibilities for managing risks; creating a risk inventory, documenting all risks in it, prioritizing them,  and developing plans to mitigate them; and  regularly tracking the status of risks and mitigation efforts, including  the documentation of triggers to escalate risks for review by senior  management.
section_title: CBP Has Developed a Risk Strategy and Inventory, but Has Not Identified or Escalated All Known Risks
paragraphs: Of the four leading practices, CBP fully implemented two practices and  partially implemented two practices (see table 1). Specifically, it has  documented a risk management strategy and established roles and  responsibilities for managing risks. However, while the agency  established a risk inventory, it has not identified all of the risks facing the  program. In addition, CBP only partially implemented tracking of risks  because it did not define thresholds for risks that would trigger the  automatic review by senior management and thus did not always escalate  risks to senior management’s attention, and because it does not identify  all information necessary for tracking risks.
Reasons why concerns we identified were not documented as risks,  include the program office officials’ view that the limitations in the  integrated master schedule were not sufficient to warrant the additional  resources that would be necessary to fix them, and that the lack of a fully  defined schedule was not a program risk, as well as the existing  contractor’s lack of skills and capability to implement earned value  management. However, both an integrated master schedule and earned  value management are important tools for effective program management  and oversight, and the absence of such capabilities increases the risk that  a program like TECS will not deliver its intended capabilities within cost  and schedule commitment. Therefore, until all of the risks have been  captured in the risk inventory with the necessary information to track the  status, thresholds have been defined to trigger review by senior  management, and relevant risks have been escalated to senior  management in a timely manner, key decision makers will be less than  fully informed. Further, the program will likely continue to experience the  types of problems discussed earlier in this report.
section_title: ICE Has Developed a Risk Strategy and Inventory, but Has Not Identified All Known Risks
paragraphs: ICE fully implemented two of the leading risk management practices and  partially implemented two others (see table 2). Specifically, it defined and  documented a risk management strategy, and established roles and  responsibilities for risk identification, tracking, and monitoring. The  program office has also established a risk inventory with mitigation plans,  but it has not identified all of the known risks. Further, while ICE has  tracked the status of risks and mitigation efforts, it has not always  followed its own processes for escalating risks outside of the program for  senior management’s attention.
According to ICE officials, they did not document the problems with the  requirements backlog and technical solution in the program’s risk  inventory because they did not want to make the risks visible until they  understood the full extent of their scope, and they only included the risks  in the inventory after attempts to address the problem failed. However,  key to effective risk management is early identification of risks, so that  they are known and visible as early as possible in order to manage and  mitigate them, and ultimately, minimize impact to the program. Until all  risks are captured in the risk inventory, thresholds are defined, and risks  are shared with senior management in a timely manner, the program may  continue to experience additional requirements and technical problems  discussed earlier in this report.
section_title: CBP and ICE Requirements Management Processes and Practices Are Largely Consistent with Leading Practices, but Were Established after Requirements Activities Were Underway
paragraphs: Well-defined and managed requirements are a cornerstone of effective  system development and acquisition efforts. According to recognized  guidance, a documented and disciplined process for developing and  managing requirements can help reduce the risk of developing a system  that does not meet user needs, cannot be adequately tested, and does  not perform or function as intended. Such a process includes, among  other things, establishing a process for developing and managing requirements to  ensure that requirements are identified, reviewed, and controlled; assigning and defining the roles and responsibilities for all those  involved in requirements management activities; eliciting user needs, translating them into requirements, and analyzing  them to ensure that each requirement is unique, unambiguous, and  testable; and defining a disciplined change control process.
section_title: CBP’s Requirements Management Is Largely Consistent with Leading Practices, but Developed after Key Requirements Activities Were Performed
paragraphs: Of the four practices for requirements management, CBP fully  implemented three and partially implemented one other (see table 3).  Specifically, it established a requirements management process,  assigned roles and responsibilities for requirements development and  management activities, and defined a change control process. However,  although CBP elicited user needs and translated them into requirements,  CBP could not document how and if each requirement was analyzed to  ensure that it is unique, unambiguous, and testable.
Although CBP’s current requirements process largely addresses the  leading practices, it was not established until March 2012, and so  therefore was not used to guide requirements development for the  majority of the program. Specifically, prior to March 2012, the program  used the Passenger Systems Program Office requirements guidance for  requirements elicitation and documentation, which, according to officials,  was too generic to meet the needs of the program. In particular, the  guidance allowed each of the projects to develop requirements  independently of each other, and document them without standardization.  According to CBP officials, the requirements for the projects that were  developed earlier in the program—such as Secondary Inspection and  High Performance Primary Query—were not as consistently well-formed  or detailed as subsequent projects because of the lack of a rigorous  process. Without well-defined and implemented processes for analyzing  requirements to ensure that they are unique, unambiguous, and testable,  CBP risks TECS Mod not performing as intended in the users’  environments, or taking longer to develop and test.
section_title: ICE Mismanaged Requirements in the Past, but Recently Issued a Process to Improve Its Management Moving Forward
paragraphs: For several years, ICE operated without an established requirements  management process, which resulted in significant problems for the  program. Although the agency began development of requirements in  June 2009, the program did not have a documented requirements  management process in place to guide its activities until March 2011,  when ICE issued a requirements management process that reflected the  program’s initial intent to use a traditional system development approach.  However, that process became outdated a few months later in October  2011 when the program transitioned to an Agile development  methodology. Rather than refine or replace its newly-issued  requirements management process, officials proceeded without one until  the current requirements management documents were issued in March  2013. As shown in table 4, ICE’s requirements development and  management activities during this time only partially satisfied one of the  four leading practices, and did not satisfy the other three.
As a result of these limitations, program officials told us that they and their  contractor did not complete work on over 2,500 requirements that were  necessary for Release 1 to function properly. This lapse was not identified  until fall 2012, when system prototypes, which had previously passed  individual component tests, were combined and then tested in an end-to- end manner for the first time in ICE’s integrated test environment.  According to ICE’s Program Manager, the system failed such testing  because of the unaccounted-for requirements. Analysis performed by the  program revealed that it would take an additional 10 months of work to  address the missing requirements. In order to meet its schedule  commitments, ICE decided to eliminate or defer about 70 percent of the  original requirements for Release 1. This in turn has contributed to the  difficulties the agency faces in delivering the entire modernized system  before the 2015 deadline.
In March 2013, ICE documented a new requirements management  process for the Agile software development methodology it had adopted,  and further established a change control board and standard operating  procedure for managing changes to program requirements. Collectively,  these two documents address all four of the leading practices called for in  guidance as described below.
ICE has defined a requirements management process that describes  the practices to ensure requirements are elicited, reviewed, approved,  and documented. For example, it describes the structure and tools to  be used to organize and maintain the various types of requirements.
The requirements management process identifies roles and  responsibilities for requirements management. Specifically, the  Requirements Manager, among other things, plans requirements  management activities throughout the project development life cycle  and maintains the requirements management strategy. The  requirements analysts, among other things, participate in the  elicitation, analysis, and refinement of program requirements. The  requirements leads represent the needs of the product owner and the  delivery team, and provide input on the prioritization of requirements.
The requirements management process describes how user needs  are to be collected and translated into requirements. The process also  describes the attributes of a good requirement, including that it should  be, among other things: (1) necessary—unique and not redundant to  another requirement; (2) clear—not possible to interpret in more than  one way and not in conflict with or contradictory to another  requirement; and (3) verifiable—can be tested to determine whether  or not the requirements is met.  ICE has a defined change control process. Specifically, its new  change control board standard operating procedure describes a  process to ensure that (1) the process for system change requests is  standardized, (2) system change requests are routed to appropriate  staff for approval, (3) system change requests are processed in a  timely manner, and (4) system change requests can be tracked.
These requirements management processes are essential to ensure that  the TECS Mod system meets mission needs, performs as intended, and  avoids the additional costly and time-consuming rework that the program  has recently experienced.
section_title: DHS’s Governance Bodies Have Taken Actions Aligned with Leading Practices, but Incomplete and Inaccurate Data Have Limited Their Effectiveness
paragraphs: Leading practices that we and others have identified note that oversight  is a critical element of an investment’s life cycle, and that to be effective,  oversight and governance bodies should, among other things, monitor a project’s performance and progress toward predefined cost ensure that corrective actions are identified and assigned to the  appropriate parties at the first sign of cost, schedule, and/or  performance problems; ensure that these corrective actions are tracked until the desired  outcomes are achieved; and  rely on complete and accurate data to review the performance of IT  projects and systems against stated expectations, including  comparing estimated schedule time frames to actual schedule  (including schedule slippages and/or compressions) and comparing  estimated costs with funds spent or obligated to date, any changes in  funding, and the impact of these changes.
As previously mentioned, DHS IT investments such as the two TECS  modernization programs are overseen by governance bodies at multiple  levels across DHS, including each programs’ Executive Steering  Committees and DHS’s Office of the CIO. While the programs’ steering  committees have the authority to oversee all aspects of the execution of  the programs between gates, the Office of the CIO provides  department-level oversight.
To their credit, these governance bodies have taken actions to address  three of the four leading practices. Specifically,
CBP’s steering committee implemented two practices, although it is  too soon to determine whether it has effectively implemented one of  the other two practices;  ICE’s steering committee implemented three practices; and  the Office of the CIO implemented three practices.
Table 5 shows whether or not each of the three governance bodies met  the leading practices for performing oversight.
As shown in the table, the governance bodies implemented three of the  four leading practices:
CBP Executive Steering Committee. This body has implemented  two leading practices: it monitors the program’s performance and  ensures corrective actions are identified. Specifically, it was chartered  earlier this year and, as of June 2013, it has met three times since its  formation. In these meetings, the committee reviewed the program’s  cost and schedule performance, and assigned related action items to  the appropriate individuals for closure. For example, during the  February 2013 meeting, the committee discussed risks that could  affect the program’s cost and schedule, and created an action item for  the program manager to discuss risk mitigation strategies with the  Component Acquisition Executive. The CBP Performance Manager  stated that this action item was completed as of July 2013. In addition,  the steering committee tracked action items from its initial meetings,  but since there have only been three meetings as of June 2013, it is  too soon to determine whether the committee is doing so consistently.  ICE Executive Steering Committee. This body has implemented  three leading practices: it monitors the program’s performance,  ensures corrective actions are identified, and generally tracks the  action items to completion. For example, it discussed the program’s  cost and schedule performance in eight of the nine meetings since its  inception in September 2011, has directed that actions be taken to  address known issues, and generally tracked the action items to  completion. Specifically, in a February 2013 meeting, the committee  discussed schedule slippage and issues with cost estimates, and  created an action item for the program to provide the committee  estimated start and completion dates for a new life-cycle cost  estimate. This action item was confirmed as “in progress” at the April  2013 meeting.
The Office of the CIO. This office implemented three of the leading  practices. Specifically, regarding monitoring, its Enterprise Business  Management Office performs program health assessments to monitor  an IT program’s performance through a review of program risk,  human capital, cost and schedule, contract oversight, and  requirements. The assessment results in a weighted score between 1  and 100 that is then converted to the five-level CIO risk rating  published on the Office of Management and Budget’s IT Dashboard.  The frequency at which the office performs these assessments is  based on each program’s CIO rating of high, medium, or low risk. For  example, it reviews high-risk programs monthly, medium-risk  programs at least quarterly, and low-risk programs on a semiannual  basis. When rating the TECS Mod programs, the Office of the CIO  rated ICE’s program as medium risk in March 2013 and CBP’s  program as moderately low risk in January 2013, which are the most  recent ratings, as of July 2013.
The Office of the CIO identifies corrective actions during the program  health assessments and ensures the actions are tracked to closure  through its TechStat review process. The CIO rating is used as one  criterion to determine whether the program will be subject to a review.  Any program that receives a high-risk rating is a candidate for a TechStat.  As part of this process, the office assigns and follows up on corrective  actions. However, neither program has been the subject of a TechStat  because, as of July 2013, neither program was considered high risk.
In addition, PARM monitors the performance of major acquisition  programs across DHS in order to identify any emerging risks and issues  (such as cost and schedule problems), and then provides data to decision  makers. In doing so, the office assesses programs against 15 separate  criteria, similar to what is assessed in the program health assessment,  including risk and requirements management, and cost and schedule  performance, and creates a Quarterly Program Accountability Report.  The report describes programs’ value-to-risk ratio and, according to an  agency official, is used as a tool to assess program risks and issues.  PARM has created three of these reports thus far, but comparing the  reports is difficult as the office changed the criteria and methodology to  incorporate lessons learned. In the report for the third and fourth quarter  of fiscal year 2012, the office rated both programs as high value, low  risk.
However, while the governance bodies had taken actions to oversee the  TECS modernization programs, the lack of complete, timely, and accurate  data have affected their ability to make informed and timely decisions,  thus limiting their effectiveness in several cases. For example:
Steering committees. In an April 2013 meeting, the CBP program  manager briefed the steering committee on its target milestone dates;  even though the agency told us a month later that it had not fully  defined its schedule, raising questions about the completeness and  accuracy of the proposed milestone dates upon which the committee  bases its oversight decisions. Similarly, in a February 2013 ICE  steering committee meeting, the office of the CIO noted that the  agency’s program-provided life-cycle cost estimate was out of date  and that a new one was needed before the program’s cost and  schedule performance could be measured accurately.
The Office of the CIO. In its most recent program health  assessments, the Enterprise Business Management Office partially  based its rating of moderately low risk on CBP’s use of earned value  management; however, the program manager stated to us that the  CBP program is not utilizing earned value management because  neither they nor their development contractor had the capability to do  so. Similarly, even though ICE had not reported recent cost or  schedule data for its program—an issue that may signal a significant  problem—OCIO rated ICE’s program as medium risk. The reliance on  incomplete and inaccurate date raises questions about the validity of  the risk ratings.
PARM. In the most recent Quarterly Program Accountability Report  issued in early July 2013, PARM rated programs both as high value  with low risk. However, CBP’s low-risk rating is based in part on the  program’s master schedule and acquisition program baseline;  however, as we stated earlier, problems with the agency’s schedule  raise questions about the validity and quality of those milestones.  Further, the low-risk rating it issued for ICE is based, in part, on  PARM’s Quarterly Program Accountability Report for April through  September 2012, which rated the program’s cost performance with  the lowest possible risk score. Yet, during that same time period,  program documents show that cost and schedule performance was  declining and varied significantly from its baseline. According to  program documents, as of June 2012, TECS Mod had variances of 20  percent from its cost baseline and 13 percent from its schedule  baseline. Moreover, both the cost and schedule estimates underlying  the baseline were outdated.
Further, the Quarterly Program Accountability Report is not issued by  PARM in a timely basis, and as such, it is not an effective tool for  decision-makers. For example, the most recent report was published on  July 7, 2013, over 9 months after the reporting period ended. Since then,  ICE has experienced the issues with its technical solution described  earlier in this report; and, as discussed, these issues have caused the  program to halt development and replan its entire acquisition. As a result,  the newly-issued issued report is not reflective of ICE’s current status,  and thus is not an effective tool for management’s use.
Until these governance bodies base their reviews of performance on  timely, complete, and accurate data, they will be limited in their ability to  effectively provide oversight and to make timely decisions.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: After spending millions of dollars and over 4 years on TECS  modernization, it is unclear when it will be delivered and at what cost.  While CBP’s program has partially delivered one of the five major projects  that comprise the program, program commitments are currently being  revised, project milestones have changed over time, and the master  schedule used by the program to manage its work activities and monitor  progress has not been fully developed. These limitations raise doubts  about the validity of the program’s schedule commitments and greatly  impact the program’s ability to monitor and effectively manage its  progress. A complete and integrated schedule provides the basis for valid  schedule commitments; therefore it is important that as CBP revises its  commitments, it ensure that its master schedule accurately reflects the  work to be done, as well as the timing, sequencing, and dependencies  between them. Moreover, ICE’s program has made little progress in  deploying its modernized case management system, and is now  completely overhauling its original design and program commitments,  placing the program in serious jeopardy of both not meeting the 2015  deadline and delaying the deployment of needed functionality. It is  therefore imperative that the agency quickly develop and execute its  revised strategy for implementing TECS Mod—including the functionality  to be delivered, when it will be delivered, and how much it will cost.
Further, while both agencies have defined key practices for managing  risks and requirements, the programs were not actively managing all risks  and key requirements practices were developed after several key  activities were performed. ICE in particular operated for years without a  requirements management process, which resulted in poorly defined and  incomplete requirements, and ultimately in costly rework and delays.  Therefore, going forward, it is important that the programs implement  these critical practices to help ensure that the program delivers the  functionally needed to meet mission requirements and minimizes the  potential for additional costly rework.
Moreover, while DHS’s various governance bodies are generally following  leading practices, they rely on data that are sometimes incomplete or  inaccurate. Thus, it is important that DHS ensure that oversight decisions  are based on complete and accurate program data. Until DHS’s  governance bodies are regularly provided complete and accurate data for  use in their performance monitoring and oversight duties, its oversight  decisions may be based on incorrect or outdated data and, therefore,  may be flawed or of limited effectiveness.
section_title: Recommendations for Executive Action
paragraphs: To improve DHS’s efforts to develop and implement its TECS Mod  programs, we recommend that the Secretary of Homeland Security direct  the CBP Commissioner to ensure that the appropriate individuals take the  following four actions:  1.  develop an integrated master schedule that accurately reflects all of  the program’s work activities, as well as the timing, sequencing, and  dependencies between them;  2.  ensure that all significant risks associated with the TECS Mod  acquisition are documented in the program’s risk and issue inventory  inventory—including acquisition risks mentioned in this report report— and are briefed to senior management, as appropriate;  3.  revise and implement the TECS Mod program’s risk management  strategy and guidance to include clear thresholds for when to escalate  risks to senior management, and implement as appropriate; and  4.  revise and implement the TECS Mod program’s requirements  management guidance to include the validation of requirements to  ensure that each is unique, unambiguous, and testable.
We further recommend that the Secretary of Homeland Security direct the  Acting Director of ICE to ensure that the appropriate individuals take the  following three actions:  1.  ensure that all significant risks associated with the TECS Mod  acquisition are documented in the program’s risk and issue  inventory—including the acquisition risks mentioned in this report— and briefed to senior management, as appropriate;  2.  revise and implement the TECS Mod program’s risk management  strategy and guidance to include clear thresholds for when to escalate  risks to senior management, and implement as appropriate; and  3.  ensure that the newly developed requirements management guidance  and recently revised guidance for controlling changes to requirements  are fully implemented.
We also recommend that the Secretary of Homeland Security direct the  Under Secretary for Management and acting Chief Information Officer to  ensure that data used by the department’s governance and oversight  bodies to assess the progress and performance of major IT program  acquisition programs are complete, timely, and accurate.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: In written comments on a draft of this report, DHS agreed with seven of  our recommendations and disagreed with one. The department described  actions planned and underway to address the seven recommendations,  and noted that it is committed to continuing its work toward full  operational capability of its TECS Mod programs to enhance functionality  for CBP, ICE, and other departments and agencies that have access to  the system. The department also provided technical comments, which we  incorporated as appropriate.
Regarding our recommendation that CBP develop an integrated master  schedule that accurately reflects all of the program’s work activities, as  well as the timing, sequencing, and dependencies between them, DHS  stated that CBP’s Office of Information and Technology believes that the  current master schedule in use provides the requisite amount of visibility  into program work activities, and that it considers the program’s  scheduling efforts to be sound. Further, DHS stated that the timing and  sequencing of TECS Mod’s key activities, as well as the dependencies of  activities, are tracked via the program schedule. We do not agree that  CBP’s current schedule provides either adequate visibility into program  work activities, or that it includes the logical sequence of all key work  activities, as well as the dependencies among them. As we state in our  report, CBP had yet to define a detailed schedule for significant portions  of the program. Moreover, approximately 65 percent of CBP’s remaining  work activities were not linked to other associated work activities;  therefore the program’s critical path could not be determined.  As a result  of these weaknesses, management is unable to determine how a slip in  the completion date of a particular task may affect the overall project  schedule. DHS also stated that CBP’s schedule is reviewed bi-weekly at  integrated project team meetings, as well as monthly at the CIO program  management reviews to track status and upcoming milestones. However,  given the issues with the schedule reflected in this report, using the  current, incomplete schedule to track progress is not effective.
While DHS concurred with our recommendation that it ensure that data  used by the department’s governance and oversight bodies to assess the  progress and performance of major IT program acquisitions are complete,  timely, and accurate, DHS stated that it has already taken such steps,  citing its enterprise Decision Support Tool, the DHS Investment  Management System, and the reporting of program cost, schedule, and  operation performance information on the Information Technology  Dashboard. On this basis, DHS requested that the recommendation be  considered resolved and closed. However, while we acknowledge that  these tools are currently in place, we identified instances where DHS  governance and oversight bodies were acting on information that was not  complete, timely, or accurate, despite the presence of the tools and  systems cited by DHS in its response.  As we go forward with our follow-  up activities for this report, we plan to monitor DHS’s progress in  improving the quality of data used in its assessments of major IT  acquisition programs.
Finally, DHS stated that our draft report did not adequately recognize the  progress made by CBP’s TECS Mod program, specifically citing the  strength of the program’s risk and requirements management practices  and schedule, as well as the fact that the program has already  implemented certain functionality. We did report that (certain weaknesses  notwithstanding) CBP’s approach to risk and requirements management  was generally consistent with leading practices. However, we also found  significant deficiencies with CBP’s master schedule for TECS Mod.  Further, we noted that the Secondary Inspection project was already  operational at air and sea ports of entry across the country, and was  operational at land ports of entry by September 2013 - approximately 6  months earlier than estimated. We also revised the report to reflect that a  portion of the modernized High Performance Primary Query Service are  currently in use to recognize additional CBP progress.
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of  this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the  report date. At that time, we will send copies to interested congressional  committees and the Secretary of Homeland Security. This report will also  be available at no charge on our website at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staffs have any questions on matters discussed in this  report, please contact me at (202) 512-9286 or pownerd@gao.gov.  Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public  Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made  major contributions to this report are listed in appendix V.
section_title: Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
paragraphs: The objectives of our review were to (1) determine the scope and status  of the two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) TECS Modernization  (TECS Mod) programs, (2) assess selected Customs and Border  Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)  program management practices for TECS Mod, and (3) assess the extent  to which DHS is executing effective executive oversight and governance  of the two TECS Mod programs.
To address our first objective, we reviewed a range of documentation  from both programs, including each program’s functional requirements  documents; their respective acquisition program baselines and  associated program cost and schedule estimates; program planning  documents, such as program management plans and test and evaluation  master plans; as well as the results of oversight reviews of both programs  from July 2011 to June 2013. To assess the scope of each program, we  determined what functionality each program had committed to provide,  and analyzed pertinent documentation, such as program management  plans, mission needs statements, concept of operations documents, and  operational requirements documents (among others) to determine  whether those commitments had changed over time. We also compared  the schedule and cost commitments listed in the programs’ initial  documentation with subsequent baselines to establish the degree to  which each program and its component subprojects had experienced  changes in their start dates, completion dates, and estimated costs.  Further, we corroborated statements made by CBP officials regarding the  lack of completeness in their program master schedules by reviewing the  completeness of their master schedule. Specifically, we examined the  relationships that CBP documented (defined) between work activities  within its master schedule for each project and the program overall. We  used spreadsheet formulas to calculate what percentage of work activities  linked to other work activities, and what percentage did not. We also  interviewed relevant DHS officials to clarify and/or confirm information in  the documents we reviewed and to more fully understand each program’s  scope and status.
To address our second objective, we examined program documentation,  such as risk management and requirements management plans and  processes, and compared them to relevant guidance from leading  practitioners.
Risk management: We compared relevant documentation, such as  the CBP TECS Modernization Risk Management Plan and the ICE  TECS Modernization Risk Management Plan, to relevant risk  management guidance to identify any variances. We focused on the  extent to which: (1) a risk management strategy had been  established, (2) roles and responsibilities for risk management  activities had been defined and assigned, (3) a risk inventory has  been created that includes plans for mitigating risks, and (4) the status  of risks and mitigation efforts is regularly tracked. We also reviewed  lists of identified risks found in risk inventories, and minutes from  meetings at which risks were identified, monitored, and closed. We  compared risks identified by us during the course of our work to the  risks in the risk inventories to determine the extent to which all key  risks were being actively managed. We also reviewed briefings  provided at executive steering committee meetings to ascertain the  extent to which program risks were disclosed at these reviews.  Further, we discussed actions recently taken and planned to improve  risk management activities within both CBP and ICE. To assess the  reliability of the risk tools, we analyzed the nature and quality of  access controls for both the CBP and ICE risk inventories to ensure  that the data in the inventories were reliable for our purposes. To  assess the reliability of the information in the risk inventories we used  in this report, we interviewed knowledgeable agency officials about  the nature and quality of controls over both the CBP and ICE  inventories, and reviewed the information in the inventories to identify  missing or invalid data entries. We found that sufficient controls were  in place, and we therefore determined that the information is  sufficiently reliable.
Requirements management: We compared relevant requirements  management documentation, such as the CBP TECS Mod  Requirements Management Plan, the Passenger Systems Program  Office’s Change Management Process and Procedure, the ICE TECS  Modernization Requirements Management Plan, and the ICE Change  Control Board Standard Operating Procedure, to relevant  requirements development and management guidance to identify any  variances. We focused on the extent to which: (1) a process for  developing and managing requirements had been established; (2)  roles and responsibilities for requirements management practices had  been defined and assigned; (3) user needs had been elicited,  translated into requirements, and then analyzed to ensure that each  requirement was unique, unambiguous, and testable; and (4) a  change control process had been defined. We analyzed agency  documentation showing the implementation of these activities,  including evidence of requirements elicitation, analyses, review, and  approval, as well as examples of change request documents. We  interviewed program officials regarding the reasons for variances  between the guidance and documentation and the status of actions  recently taken and planned to improve requirements management  activities within both CBP and ICE.
To address our third objective, we analyzed documentation including  executive steering committee meetings results, and reviewed program  assessments from DHS’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and  DHS’s Program Accountability and Risk Management office, and  compared the results to relevant guidance such as our Information  Technology Investment Management Framework to determine the extent  to which DHS is providing effective executive oversight and guidance to  the two TECS Mod programs. In addition, we compared the outputs of  these governance structures (such as briefing slides, meeting minutes,  and action items) to the ESC charters, and compared reports and  assessments prepared by DHS governance bodies to DHS’s guidance for  conducting such assessments. We also interviewed relevant officials from  CBP, ICE, and DHS, as appropriate.
We conducted this performance audit from December 2012 to September  2013 in accordance with 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.
section_title: Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security
section_title: Appendix III: Description of Key Systems and Data on Legacy TECS
paragraphs: TECS is a border enforcement system that supports the sharing of  information about people seeking entry into the country. The system  interfaces with several law enforcement systems and federal agencies,  and supports the screening of people and conveyances who are  inadmissible or may pose a threat to the country. In addition, it provides  an investigative case management function for activities including money- laundering tracking and reporting; telephone data analysis; and  intelligence reporting and dissemination. The following table provides a  description of key systems and data associated with the passenger  screening processes within TECS.
section_title: Appendix IV: Description of CBP’s Five TECS Modernization Projects
paragraphs: CPB plans to deliver the following capabilities incrementally across five  projects by September 2015. Specifically,
Secondary Inspection: This project is to support processing of  travelers referred from primary inspection for either enforcement or  administrative reasons. The modernized version of Secondary  Inspection, according to CBP, is to streamline the processing of  encounters by eliminating the need for users to navigate through  complex system menus to perform tasks, and minimize redundant  data entry, as well as to simplify the interface so that all of the  information is presented on a single screen. This project is to also  provide web-based interface access to information such as relevant  laws, policies, and forensics. In addition, this project is to provide a  means to record the outcome of each inspection. According to CBP,  Secondary Inspection is currently operational at all air, land, and sea  ports of entry.
High Performance Primary Query and Manifest Processing: This  project is intended to improve TECS data search results in order to  expedite the processing of manifests from individuals traveling to the  United States on commercial or private aircraft, and commercial  vessels. CBP plans to migrate the mainframe-based lookout records  and other data to the modernized infrastructure, and replace the  1980s era databases and queries with modernized tools for the  primary inspection process. It is to be fully operational by March 2015.
Travel Document and Encounter Data: This project is intended to  improve CBP’s ability to query and validate travel documentation for  both passengers and their means of conveyance (whether people  enter the country by air, sea, or land—by foot or in a vehicle). It is  intended to modernize existing travel document data presented during  primary and secondary inspections. It will also provide web-based  interfaces intended to allow quick access to a passenger’s complete  travel history, while also implementing appropriate data access  restrictions and privacy protections in compliance with agencies’ data  policies. It is to be fully operational by March 2015.
Lookout Record Data and Screening Services: This project is  intended to improve the efficiency of existing data screening and  analyses capabilities by providing a means to quickly create, update,  and send and receive lookout record data to external agencies, such  as the law enforcement community. It is to be fully operational by  March 2015.
Primary Inspection Processes: This project is intended to modernize  the overall inspection process and provide support for additional or  random screening and communication functions. CBP states that this  project will upgrade lookout record alarms and alerts sent to air, sea,  and land primary and secondary workstations to ensure the safety of  inspection officers. In addition, the project will modernize the user  interfaces for alternate inspections—any inspection that is not  conducted at an air, sea, vehicle, or pedestrian primary inspection  location. It is to be fully operational by March 2015.
section_title: Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contact
section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the contact name above, individuals making contributions to  this report included Deborah Davis (Assistant Director), Kara Epperson,  Rebecca Eyler, Daniel Gordon, Dave Hinchman (Assistant Director),  Sandra Kerr, Jamelyn Payan, and Jessica Waselkow.
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