U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Progress and Challenges in Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Law Enforcement Personnel
Released: 2018-06-27T00:00:00

Letter

Background

CBP’s Law Enforcement Positions

Within CBP’s three operational components—OFO, Border Patrol, and AMO—there are five categories of law enforcement officer positions, each with different job requirements and responsibilities. First, OFO’s CBP officers conduct immigration and customs inspections at ports of entry to prevent the illicit entry of travelers, cargo, merchandise, and other items. Second, Border Patrol agents are responsible for securing the U.S. border between ports of entry and responding to cross-border threats. Third, AMO has three categories of law enforcement officers—Air Interdiction Agents, Aviation Enforcement Agents, and Marine Interdiction Agents—who interdict and disrupt threats to the United States in the air and maritime environments at and beyond the border. For more information on CBP’s law enforcement officer positions, see figure 1.

CBP Staffing Levels for Law Enforcement Officer Positions

In recent years, CBP has not been able to attain statutorily-established minimum staffing levels for its Border Patrol agent positions or meet its staffing targets for other law enforcement officer positions. Figure 2 shows the difference between CBP’s onboard staffing levels and its authorized staffing levels from fiscal years 2013 through 2017.

CBP’s Hiring Process for Law Enforcement Officer Positions

CBP’s law enforcement applicants undergo a lengthy and rigorous hiring process that includes nearly a dozen steps, including a background investigation, medical examination, physical fitness test, and polygraph examination. Several of these steps can be done concurrently—for example, CBP can begin the background investigation while the candidate completes the physical fitness test and medical examination process steps. Figure 3 depicts the hiring process for Border Patrol agent and CBP officer positions.

Financial Incentives and Other Human Capital Flexibilities Available to CBP

CBP is able to use financial incentives and other compensation-based human capital flexibilities to help recruit and retain qualified law enforcement personnel. According to OPM, federal agencies have broad discretionary authority to provide additional compensation in certain circumstances to support workforce needs and address human capital challenges, including through the use of financial incentives such as recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives. Table 1 below provides an overview of these incentives.

In addition to these incentives, CBP can also offer other compensation- based human capital flexibilities to employees. For example, with OPM approval, CBP may establish a special salary rate, or a higher rate of pay for employees, either nationwide or in a specific geographic area where CBP’s recruitment or retention efforts are, or would likely become, significantly handicapped without those higher rates.

CBP Has Enhanced Its Recruitment Efforts and Applications for Law Enforcement Officer Positions Have Increased

CBP Established a Centralized Recruitment Office to Manage Recruitment Efforts across Components

CBP officials stated they established the National Frontline Recruitment Command (NFRC)—a formal task force housed within CBP’s Office of Human Resources Management (HRM)—in February 2016. The NFRC is charged with, among other things, developing recruitment strategies, providing strategic guidance, and managing recruitment efforts across all three operational components. CBP officials stated that, prior to the creation of the NFRC, the recruitment and hiring of law enforcement officers was done at the component level and there was no integrated CBP-wide approach to coordinate efforts and address challenges. Based on our literature search, we identified leading practices that may be applicable to federal law enforcement agencies in recruiting, hiring, and retaining law enforcement personnel. Having a centralized entity or office in charge of developing recruitment strategies and overseeing recruitment activities is consistent with leading practices we identified for recruiting for law enforcement positions specifically. All three other selected law enforcement agencies we reviewed also had recruitment strategies that outlined their respective agencies’ recruitment roles and responsibilities, while two had a centralized entity in charge of recruitment. In particular, officials from both ICE and the Secret Service stated they have a central office in charge of recruitment efforts while BOP officials told us that recruitment for Correctional Officers is mainly handled at the local prison level.

The NFRC is responsible for setting CBP’s strategic recruitment goals and overseeing agency-wide recruitment initiatives. For example, CBP officials are finalizing the Frontline Hiring and Recruiting FY 18 to FY 24 Strategy & Implementation Plan, which outlines specific initiatives designed to increase the number and quality of applicants applying for law enforcement officer positions. The strategy describes ways CBP can target its recruitment efforts more effectively and develop brand identities for each component to provide the foundation for a comprehensive marketing strategy.

In addition to setting strategic initiatives, the NFRC manages the recruitment budget and allocates recruitment funding for CBP and the operational components. For example, NFRC officials stated that the NFRC funds CBP-wide recruitment initiatives such as Special Emphasis Recruitment Teams—teams of specially trained recruiters from each component who attend events specific to different demographic groups such as females or veterans. The NFRC also funds other initiatives such as strategic partnerships with major businesses, which allow CBP to advertise and recruit at their events. For example, CBP previously participated in strategic partnerships with the Big 10 and Big XII athletic conferences, and in 2016 and 2017, the NFRC spent $500,000 for a strategic partnership with the Spartan Race program, which allowed CBP and its components to advertise, set up recruitment booths, and sign up applicants at events. NFRC officials told us they ended their partnership with the Spartan Race in December 2017 and are evaluating options for future strategic partnerships.

The NFRC also allocates funding for both joint recruitment events—those attended by two or three components—and single-component events attended by one operational component. For example, NFRC officials stated that career and job fairs provide opportunities for CBP to leverage its resources and attract potential applicants to all three components. At these events, applicants can talk to uniformed recruiters to learn more about their respective career paths. NFRC officials stated that in addition to CBP-wide efforts, the NFRC manages and allocates recruitment funding for each operational component to cover the cost of recruitment events or other initiatives that meet the specific needs of that component. For example, AMO officials stated that they use NFRC funding to attend events such as helicopter shows where there is a higher potential to attract qualified pilots.

As shown in table 2, CBP’s recruitment budget allocated by the NFRC almost doubled from approximately $6.4 million in fiscal year 2015 to more than $12.7 million in fiscal year 2017. The budget allocated by the NFRC specific to the operational components—while a small percentage of CBP’s overall recruitment budget—increased during this time frame as well. For example, Border Patrol’s recruitment budget increased from approximately $433,000 in fiscal year 2015 to more than $1 million in fiscal year 2017, while OFO’s budget increased from approximately $116,000 to nearly $525,000.

In addition to recruitment funding managed by the NFRC, components may use additional funding from their own budgets that is not allocated or managed by the NFRC to fund recruitment initiatives. For example, two of the three components funded their own strategic partnerships. Border Patrol officials stated they spent $1.5 million on a strategic partnership with the Professional Bull Riders Association which allowed them to target specific applicants who fit Border Patrol’s applicant profile. This partnership provided Border Patrol with the opportunity to advertise and recruit at more than 70 events over the course of 18 months. Likewise, OFO officials told us they spent $15,000 to be the sole sponsor of the 2018 National Police Week race in Washington, D.C., which includes a recruitment booth, a logo on the official T-shirt, and a prominent speaker at the start of the race. AMO officials stated that while they generally do not use their own funding to pay for strategic partnerships, they do partner with the University of North Dakota, which has a large flight school, where they give presentations in classrooms and recruit on campus.

CBP Has Increased Its Participation in Recruitment Events and Standardized Its Recruiter Training

CBP has increased its emphasis on recruitment and increased the number of recruitment events it has participated in since fiscal year 2015. Specifically, CBP more than tripled the total number of recruitment events it participated in, from 905 events in fiscal year 2015 to roughly 3,000 in both fiscal years 2016 and 2017 (see fig. 4).

CBP components generally attend two different types of recruitment events—outreach events designed to promote CBP’s brand and events such as job and career fairs designed to actively cultivate potential applicants. For example, AMO officials stated their attendance at the 2018 Border Security Expo technology trade fair was an outreach event designed to promote the component at a high-visibility event despite the low likelihood of directly reaching qualified applicants, such as pilots. AMO officials also stated they participate in the HELISUCCESS career fair at the annual Heli-Expo trade show where individuals from across the helicopter industry gather to attend seminars and interact with recruiters. They noted that this event provides a great opportunity to recruit qualified applicants who have a license to fly helicopters.

While CBP increased its participation in recruitment events from fiscal years 2015 through 2017, officials across all three components told us the NFRC canceled a number of events during the first half of fiscal year 2018 because of a lack of certainty regarding the agency’s budget while functioning under continuing resolutions, which extended fiscal year 2017 funding until the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, in March 2018. Additionally, CBP officials stated that the agency was responsible for providing humanitarian support for multiple hurricanes during this time frame which put a strain on CBP’s resources. Overall, these officials explained that the NFRC canceled 36 percent of all recruitment events during the first half of fiscal year 2018 until the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. They stated that during this period, they focused on attending free local events and online events such as webinars, but noted that the lack of consistent year-to- year funding for recruitment activities directly affected their ability to attend recruitment events and thus to recruit qualified personnel.

To attend recruitment events and promote their brand, CBP components utilize their own law enforcement personnel to act as recruiters. As shown in table 3, as of March 2018, CBP had 1,663 recruiters across the three components, which included 57 full-time and 1,606 part-time recruiters. CBP officials stated that most recruiters do not conduct recruitment activities on a full-time basis and recruitment is considered a collateral responsibility in addition to regular duties. In addition, officials stated these recruiters must be approved by their component leadership and funding for their positions comes from the components’ budgets.

In July 2017, CBP implemented a 5-day standardized training program for all component recruiters focused on effective public speaking and engagement tactics as well as specific, in-depth information on each operational component and the CBP hiring process. CBP officials stated that a goal of this training, among other things, is to ensure that recruiters provide standardized, accurate information to all potential applicants. As of April 2018, 636 recruiters had completed the training, according to CBP officials, and the agency plans to train 1,300 recruiters by the end of fiscal year 2018.

CBP Increased Its Use of Recruitment Incentives, Although Use by Components Varied

In addition to establishing the NFRC and increasing participation in recruitment events, CBP has increased its use of recruitment incentives from fiscal years 2015 through 2017 to help staff hard-to-fill locations. A recruitment incentive may be paid to a newly-appointed employee if an agency determines that a position is likely to be difficult to fill in the absence of such an incentive. From fiscal years 2015 through 2017, OFO increased the number of recruitment incentives it paid to CBP officers from 9 incentives in 2 locations at a total cost of about $77,600 to 446 incentives across 18 locations at a cost of approximately $4.3 million. AMO and Border Patrol did not use recruitment incentives from fiscal years 2015 through 2017 (see fig. 5).

OFO officials told us that recruitment incentives have been effective in filling staffing shortages at hard-to-fill locations. For example, they noted that since they began offering recruitment incentives in fiscal year 2015, 14 of the 18 locations where these incentives are used have not experienced a decrease in staffing levels as of February 2018. Additionally, OFO officials told us that in larger ports-of-entry—such as San Ysidro, California, where staffing levels have consistently remained below authorized targets—staffing levels have increased by up to 15 percent. AMO officials stated while they did not use recruitment incentives from fiscal years 2015 through 2017, as of April 2018 they are using them to fill remote locations in the Caribbean. Specifically, AMO paid two recruitment incentives for Air Interdiction Agents and two for Marine Interdiction Agents at locations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. AMO officials stated that they began using these incentives to staff hard- to-fill locations because of a nationwide shortage of pilots as well as increased competition with commercial airlines. However, as AMO has only recently started using these incentives, it is too early to gauge whether it will be effective in increasing staffing levels at these hard-to-fill locations. Border Patrol officials stated the main reason they do not use recruitment incentives is that in the past these incentives created resentment among current employees that did not receive extra pay to do the same job in the same location. Additionally, these officials told us that job announcements for Border Patrol agent positions do not specify particular duty locations, but represent a general announcement that can be used to fill numerous duty locations, as necessary.

Applications for Law Enforcement Positions Have Tripled since Fiscal Year 2013

As a result of its efforts, CBP has experienced an increase in the number of applications it received for law enforcement officer positions across all three operational components from fiscal years 2013 through 2017. For example, with the exception of fiscal year 2014, applications for Border Patrol agent positions increased every year from roughly 27,000 applications in fiscal year 2013 to more than 91,000 applications in fiscal year 2017. Further, during the same period, applications for CBP officer positions increased from approximately 22,500 to more than 85,000, and applications for AMO’s law enforcement officer positions increased from roughly 2,000 to more than 5,800 (see fig. 6).

CBP’s Accenture Contract Is Intended to Further Enhance CBP’s Recruitment Efforts

In November 2017, CBP signed a contract with a total potential period of 5 years at a not-to-exceed value of $297 million with Accenture Federal Services, LLC, to help the agency recruit and hire the 5,000 Border Patrol agents called for in Executive Order 13767 as well as an additional 2,000 CBP officers and 500 AMO personnel. Under this performance-based contract, Accenture will be responsible for enhancing CBP’s recruitment efforts and managing the hiring process for those applicants it recruits. The contract includes a base year and four 1-year option periods which CBP may exercise at its discretion for a total potential period of 5 years. The $297 million represents the maximum amount CBP may obligate on the contract during the potential 5-year period. CBP obligated $43 million on the Accenture contract in November 2017 for startup costs, security- related services, and for the hiring of 440 CBP officers, 150 Border Patrol agents, and 23 AMO law enforcement officers. Under the terms of the contract, CBP will pay the contractor a set dollar amount for each law enforcement officer hired. For example, in the first year of the contract, CBP has agreed to pay Accenture approximately $40,000 for each Border Patrol agent hired with 80 percent paid when a candidate receives an official job offer and the remaining 20 percent paid upon the candidate’s entry-on-duty date.

The Accenture contract is intended to enhance CBP’s recruitment efforts by improving its marketing strategy and utilizing new ways to capture and analyze data to better inform recruitment efforts, according to CBP officials. For example, HRM officials stated that, in February 2018, Accenture began its digital marketing campaign and started posting electronic ads to target potential applicants for CBP’s law enforcement positions. In addition, Accenture is using advertisements, e-mail blasts, and other strategic marketing tools to specifically target various categories of potential applicants, such as women, veterans, minorities, and current law enforcement officers. CBP officials told us that they are not concerned about Accenture’s recruiting efforts encroaching on the agency’s current applicant pool as Accenture’s activities will largely target populations that CBP has not historically pursued. They also stated that for populations that CBP does target (e.g., veterans and women), the agency expects to benefit from Accenture’s recruitment efforts by increasing the number of applicants from these populations to all job announcements for CBP positions. Further, they noted that if Accenture’s tactics are successful, there is nothing prohibiting the agency from replicating such tactics to garner more applicants.

CBP officials also stated that Accenture plans to provide opportunities to better enhance the agency’s data analytics on its recruitment efforts. For example, Accenture is using recruitment data and software to identify potential candidates and increase traffic to websites where these individuals can submit applications. CBP officials told us they would benefit from these and other insights that Accenture’s data analytics will provide as CBP can evaluate the contractor’s recruitment efforts and initiatives and, based upon Accenture’s success, incorporate them into CBP’s own efforts. While these efforts seem promising, it is too early to determine whether these initiatives will help increase the number and quality of applicants for CBP’s law enforcement officer positions.

CBP Has Taken Steps to Improve Its Hiring Process, but the Process Remains Lengthy

CBP Has Improved Its Performance in Two Key Hiring Metrics

Since fiscal year 2015, CBP’s performance in two key metrics that it uses to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of its hiring process for law enforcement officer positions has generally improved. Specifically, CBP reduced its time-to-hire and increased its overall applicant pass rates for all three components.

Time-to-Hire. CBP’s average time-to-hire metric calculates the average number of calendar days that elapsed between the closing date of a job announcement and an applicant’s entry-on-duty date. CBP’s time-to-hire for all law enforcement officer positions decreased from fiscal years 2015 through 2017. Specifically, during this period, the time-to-hire for CBP officers decreased by 78 days (20 percent) to an average of 318 days for fiscal year 2017. For AMO Air and Marine Interdiction Agents, CBP’s time-to-hire decreased by 103 days (28 percent) to an average of 262 days for fiscal year 2017. The agency’s time-to-hire for Border Patrol agents was the longest at 628 days in fiscal year 2015. As discussed earlier, Border Patrol officials stated that there were no job announcements for Border Patrol agent positions in fiscal year 2014; therefore, many of the agents hired in fiscal year 2015 had applied in fiscal year 2013, accounting for this protracted time-to-hire. Even so, from fiscal year 2016 to 2017, CBP’s time-to-hire for Border Patrol agents decreased by 32 days (11 percent) to an average of 274 days for fiscal year 2017 (see table 4).

We also compared CBP’s time-to-hire with that of the Secret Service because its hiring process for law enforcement officers is the most similar to CBP’s. Specifically, the Secret Service’s hiring process comprises roughly the same number of hiring steps and also includes a polygraph examination—one of the more challenging and time-consuming steps in the process—as well as a written assessment, background investigation, medical examination, and interview. We found that CBP’s time-to-hire for its law enforcement positions was shorter than the Secret Service’s in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. For example, in fiscal year 2017, CBP’s time-to-hire for CBP officers and Border Patrol agents was 73 days and 117 days shorter, respectively, than the Secret Service’s. Further, CBP’s time-to-hire for AMO’s law enforcement positions was shorter than the Secret Service’s in every fiscal year from 2015 through 2017.

Overall Applicant Pass Rates. CBP’s overall applicant pass rate metric calculates the estimated percentage of applicants who successfully complete the hiring process and enter on duty. CBP data indicate that overall applicant pass rates more than doubled for CBP officer and Border Patrol agent positions from fiscal years 2016 to 2017 (see table 5).

CBP officials told us that higher overall applicant pass rates paired with recent increases in the number of applications received by the agency are starting to result in an increase in the number of law enforcement officers hired as applicants complete CBP’s hiring process and officially enter on duty. As shown in table 6, CBP data indicate that more law enforcement officers entered on duty in the first half of fiscal year 2018 than entered on duty in the first half of fiscal year 2017. Specifically, the total number of CBP officers and Border Patrol agents that entered on duty in the first half of fiscal year 2018 increased by roughly 50 percent and 83 percent, respectively, when compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year. Further, the total number of AMO law enforcement officers that entered on duty in the first half of fiscal year 2018 more than doubled from the same period of fiscal year 2017.

CBP officials noted that they hope to consistently maintain this trend of increased hires to offset attrition and attain target staffing levels. For example, although 328 Border Patrol agents entered on duty in the first half of fiscal year 2018, 404 agents departed Border Patrol during this same period, resulting in a net loss of 76 agents. Likewise, in the first half of fiscal year 2018, a total of 449 CBP officers entered on duty while 488 officers departed OFO, resulting in a net loss of 39 officers. These data indicate that CBP continues to face challenges in retaining qualified law enforcement personnel and attaining target staffing levels for these positions. We discuss this issue later in this report.

CBP Has Taken Steps to Improve Its Hiring Process for Law Enforcement Officers

CBP has made efforts to improve its hiring process by revising certain aspects of the process and piloting two key hiring initiatives—Hiring Hub events and the Applicant Care program. According to agency officials, these efforts to streamline and improve CBP’s overall hiring process have collectively resulted in the decreased time-to-hire and increased overall applicant pass rates discussed above. In addition to these efforts, CBP’s contract with Accenture is designed to provide surge hiring capacity to help supplement the agency’s efforts to meet its staffing goals, according to agency officials.

Hiring Process Revisions. CBP has implemented changes aimed at streamlining its hiring process for law enforcement officers and made adjustments to specific hiring steps. For example, among other changes, CBP took the following steps: In fiscal year 2015, CBP replaced its paper-based fingerprinting process with an electronic format, reducing the costs and effort required to physically process and mail paper fingerprinting cards.

In fiscal year 2016, CBP increased the frequency of its job announcements on USAJOBS.gov to solicit applications on a continuous basis instead of only posting announcements for set periods of time. In addition, DHS was directed by statute to enhance its efforts to recruit members of the Armed Forces to serve as CBP officers through identifying shared activities and opportunities for reciprocity related to steps in hiring so as to minimize the time required to hire qualified applicants.

In March 2017, CBP was granted the authority to waive the polygraph examination for veterans who meet certain criteria, including those who hold a current, active top-secret/sensitive-compartmented- information clearance.

In April 2017, CBP received OPM approval to use direct-hire authority for law enforcement positions, which allows CBP to expedite the typical hiring process by eliminating competitive rating and ranking procedures and veterans’ preference. As of March 31, 2018, 77 CBP officers and 107 Border Patrol agents had entered on duty through this authority, but HRM officials told us that more applicants continue to progress through CBP’s hiring pipeline.

CBP has also made revisions to specific steps in its hiring process, including the application, entrance examination, physical fitness test, and polygraph examination, among others. For example, in May 2014, CBP incorporated questions into its electronic application that are designed to automatically disqualify applicants who, based on their responses, could not pass CBP’s background investigation. Specifically, applicants that provide a disqualifying response to any of these questions would not be able to submit an application, thereby saving CBP the effort and resources associated with processing nonviable applicants. Further, in fiscal year 2016, CBP reordered its hiring process to place the entrance examination as the first step directly after an applicant submitted an application. Prior to this change, CBP conducted qualification reviews on applicants to ensure they met position requirements before inviting them to take the entrance exam. According to CBP officials, this updated process provided applicants with the opportunity to obtain a realistic preview of the job they were applying for earlier in the hiring process. These officials explained that this helps to ensure that only those applicants who are committed to completing the hiring process and entering on duty at CBP continue through the hiring pipeline, which may help to address high applicant discontinue rates (e.g., roughly half of all eligible applicants in fiscal year 2015 did not take the exam). According to CBP documentation, this revision also created efficiencies as the agency no longer has to spend time and resources on completing qualification reviews for applicants who either did not show up to take the exam or failed the exam itself.

CBP data show recent improvements in both the pass rates for the entrance examination process step as well as its average duration—the average amount of time it took applicants to complete this step. Specifically, from fiscal years 2016 to 2017, pass rates increased by about 40 percent for both CBP officer and Border Patrol agent candidates, and the average duration shortened from 17 days to 13 days for CBP officer candidates and from 19 days to 12 days for Border Patrol agent applicants. CBP officials told us they are also exploring options to allow applicants to complete the entrance examination remotely— eliminating the need for candidates to travel to physical testing sites and potentially further reducing the amount of time spent completing this step.

In fiscal year 2016, the physical fitness test process step was amended for all law enforcement officer applicants to provide those who fail another chance to complete this requirement, according to CBP officials. Further, in fiscal year 2017, CBP eliminated the second physical fitness test— which had been the last process step in CBP’s hiring process—for CBP officer, Border Patrol agent, and AMO applicants. In addition to shortening the overall process, officials told us this change provided the small percentage of applicants that passed every other hiring process step with an opportunity to demonstrate they meet CBP’s physical ability standards during basic training.

CBP has also made several changes to its polygraph examination process step, which has consistently had the lowest pass rate of any step in its hiring process. For example, among other things, CBP has increased the number of polygraph examiners available to administer the test, according to agency officials, and is piloting a new type of polygraph exam—the Test for Espionage, Sabotage, and Corruption. According to CBP officials, the new examination focuses on identifying serious crimes and is sufficiently rigorous to ensure that only qualified applicants are able to pass. Preliminary data from CBP’s pilot show that this new exam has demonstrated higher pass rates when compared with CBP’s traditional polygraph exam while also taking less time, on average, per test to complete. In addition, in response to recommendations made by the DHS OIG in August 2017, CBP implemented a policy requiring polygraph examiners to take steps to terminate an ongoing examination if disqualifying information is obtained from an applicant during the exam. Further, CBP officials told us they are continuing to work on developing and deploying a presecurity interview to identify unsuitable applicants prior to spending resources on conducting the polygraph examination. While it remains too early to tell if these efforts will result in improvements to the polygraph examination step, available CBP data indicate mixed results. Specifically, while the average duration to complete this step decreased for all law enforcement officer positions from fiscal years 2015 through 2017, pass rates also declined slightly over this same period (see table 7).

Hiring Hub Events. In August 2015, CBP piloted its first Hiring Hub event where applicants could complete the structured interview and polygraph examination in one location over the course of several days. In fiscal year 2016, CBP expanded its use of these events, holding additional Hiring Hubs in New York, New York; San Diego, California; and Laredo, Texas; among other locations. The use of consolidated hiring events is consistent with a leading practice we identified in hiring for law enforcement officer positions, and officials at both ICE and the Secret Service stated their agencies are using similar events to process applicants. Although CBP could not provide specific data on its Hiring Hub events, CBP officials stated that the use of these events reduced the agency’s time-to-hire by consolidating hiring process steps that traditionally took applicants weeks to complete into just a few days— effectively enhancing the applicant experience and helping to reduce the number of individuals that drop out of the hiring process.

Despite attributing a reduction in the agency’s time-to-hire to the Hiring Hubs, CBP discontinued their use in fiscal year 2017 because of their high costs, according to CBP officials. Specifically, CBP officials told us the agency spent $878,000 and $426,000 in fiscal years 2016 and 2017, respectively, which included renting physical space for the Hiring Hub events and funding the travel expenses of CBP employees sent to staff them. However, CBP officials told us that the best practices and process improvements CBP learned from these events have been incorporated into the agency’s new expedited hiring model, which has been used to process all CBP law enforcement applicants since April 2017. According to CBP officials, this model utilizes existing CBP facilities where applicants can complete the structured interview and polygraph examination near where they live while also providing CBP with cost savings by avoiding the need to rent physical office space.

Applicant Care. In fiscal year 2017, CBP supplemented its traditional applicant outreach efforts by piloting the Applicant Care program across all three components. This program is intended to pair viable applicants with a trained recruiter who can answer questions and provide individuals with guidance and support throughout the lengthy hiring process. Formally pairing trained recruiters with applicants is a leading practice we identified in hiring for law enforcement positions, and of the three other selected agencies we reviewed, the Secret Service also had a similar program, according to Secret Service officials. According to CBP data, 806 applicants across all three operational components have participated in the Applicant Care pilot program and, as of May 2018, 28 of these have entered on duty at CBP. CBP officials in OFO, AMO, and HRM told us that the Applicant Care program had been useful in providing an effective way to communicate with applicants. According to a senior AMO official, AMO has fully incorporated the program into its hiring efforts and has paired every applicant since June 2017 with an AMO recruiter. Specifically, this official told us the program has been beneficial by keeping candidates engaged and steadily progressing through the process. HRM officials concurred, stating that the Applicant Care program has been successful in reducing the number of individuals that fail to complete CBP’s lengthy hiring process. According to CBP officials, the Applicant Care program also helps to reduce CBP’s time-to-hire since recruiters can actively encourage candidates to promptly progress through aspects of the hiring process that applicants are responsible for completing, such as the submission of OPM’s Standard Form 86 (SF- 86).

CBP officials told us that the agency is collecting data to evaluate the effectiveness of the Applicant Care pilot, including the average time-to- hire and overall pass rates of participating applicants. However, since the pilot is ongoing and some applicants continue to progress through CBP’s hiring pipeline, information on the program’s effectiveness remains preliminary. CBP officials also told us that scaling the Applicant Care initiative to include all applicants may present a challenge, especially given the recent increase in the number of law enforcement applications CBP has received. For example, a senior AMO official noted that, as of January 2018, 10 AMO recruiters were managing a total of about 200 applicants as part of the program, and that more recruiters would be needed to reduce employee workload to a more manageable level. Further, Border Patrol officials said that scaling the initiative to include the tens of thousands of individuals that annually apply for Border Patrol agent positions will be challenging as recruiters do not have the capacity to directly communicate with each one.

Accenture Contract. According to CBP officials, the Accenture contract is intended to enhance the agency’s ability to achieve its primary goal— hiring law enforcement officers to meet target staffing levels—by augmenting CBP’s current hiring infrastructure and pursuing new and innovative hiring initiatives.

HRM officials told us that Accenture will establish its own hiring infrastructure where Accenture personnel will administer most of the hiring process steps to those applicants it recruits. Specifically, the contractor is responsible for implementing the same hiring process steps and maintaining CBP’s standards to ensure that all applicants recruited by Accenture meet those standards. According to HRM officials, Accenture’s efforts are expected to provide CBP with surge hiring capacity without affecting CBP’s current hiring infrastructure, which will continue to function throughout the contract’s duration. According to CBP officials, Accenture began processing an initial trial group of random applicants in May 2018 to ensure that the contractor is able to process candidates through its hiring pipeline as required by the contract.

CBP officials also told us that Accenture has the flexibility to pursue novel hiring tactics and pilot initiatives that CBP may not have considered or been able to undertake. For example, Accenture plans to pilot innovative ways to reduce the time-to-hire, including by streamlining steps in the hiring process, which could help to improve CBP’s overall process and generate increased hires for law enforcement positions. Further, because the contractor will only be paid for individuals that receive final job offers and enter on duty—and not for implementing these new methods and initiatives—CBP does not bear the financial risk if such initiatives prove not to be cost-effective. On the other hand, if hiring methods piloted by Accenture are successful in reducing CBP’s time-to-hire and generating increased law enforcement officer hires, CBP can incorporate these methods into its own process.

As of March 2018, some key issues were still being negotiated between CBP and the contractor. For example, while HRM officials told us that the main metric used to assess Accenture’s effectiveness will be the total number of hires the contractor produces, they were still working to finalize other key metrics for evaluating the contractor’s effectiveness as well as an oversight plan to ensure the contractor operates according to agency requirements. In addition, a senior HRM official told us that the costs associated with hiring a law enforcement officer are generally the same regardless of whether an applicant is processed by Accenture or CBP. Specifically, CBP officials explained that the requirements to hire a law enforcement officer are rigorous and include administering entrance examinations, background investigations, physical fitness and medical tests, and polygraph examinations, among other process steps. CBP officials stated that the costs associated with conducting these process steps for all applicants—and not just the small percentage who successfully complete the hiring process and enter on duty at CBP—are incurred whether the process is administered by Accenture or CBP. As a result, these officials explained that CBP is most focused on processing as many qualified candidates as possible to increase law enforcement officer staffing levels. As Accenture’s hiring infrastructure will not become fully operational until June 2018, it is too early to evaluate whether the contractor will be able to efficiently and effectively provide the surge hiring capacity CBP needs to achieve its staffing goals.

Certain Factors Affect CBP’s Hiring Process for Law Enforcement Positions

While CBP has reduced its time-to-hire and made efforts to improve its hiring process for law enforcement officers, CBP officials have noted that the hiring process remains lengthy, which they said directly affected the agency’s ability to recruit and hire for law enforcement positions. CBP officials also stated that their ability to further improve CBP’s time-to-hire and increase law enforcement hires is affected by hiring process steps that can be challenging and time-consuming for applicants to complete as well as CBP’s reliance on applicants to promptly complete certain aspects of the process.

As noted above, in fiscal year 2017, it took an average of 274 days for Border Patrol agent applicants and more than 300 days for CBP officer applicants to complete all hiring steps and enter on duty. According to a leading practice we identified in hiring for such positions, agencies should ensure that the hiring process is not protracted or onerous for applicants. While OPM’s time-to-hire target for federal agencies is 80 days, officials at CBP, ICE, and the Secret Service told us that such a target is not feasible for law enforcement positions given the rigor and complexity of the hiring process. Further, according to CBP officials, the agency’s multistep hiring process for its law enforcement officer positions is intentionally rigorous and involves extensive applicant screening to ensure that only qualified candidates meet the technical, physical, and suitability requirements for employment at CBP. Even so, CBP officials across several components told us that the agency’s time-to-hire was too long and directly affected the component’s ability to recruit and hire for law enforcement positions. For example, OFO officials told us that the longer the hiring process takes to complete, the more likely it is that an applicant will drop out. Further, qualified applicants may also decide to apply for employment at a competing law enforcement agency such as ICE that may have a less rigorous process than CBP’s, according to CBP officials.

One factor that affects CBP’s ability to efficiently process and onboard law enforcement officers are specific hiring process steps that are time- consuming and challenging for candidates to complete. For example, CBP officials across all three operational components and HRM cited the polygraph examination as a significant bottleneck within CBP’s hiring process. In addition to having the lowest pass rate of any step in CBP’s process, as noted above, the polygraph examination also took CBP officer and Border Patrol agent applicants, on average, the longest amount of time to complete in fiscal year 2017—74 days and 94 days, respectively. Further, Border Patrol and HRM officials both told us that these already lengthy time frames may increase further because of the growing number of applicants for CBP’s law enforcement positions. In addition, CBP’s background investigation and medical examination process steps as well as the SF-86 submission and preemployment complete hiring phases had the five longest average durations for law enforcement applicants in fiscal year 2017. For example, on average, it took CBP law enforcement officer applicants across all three components 55 days or more to complete the medical examination and more than 60 days to complete the background investigation. For more information on the average durations of these selected aspects of CBP’s hiring process, see table 8.

Another factor that affects CBP’s ability to reduce its time-to-hire is CBP’s reliance on applicants to complete certain aspects of the hiring process in a timely manner. While the agency has taken steps to mitigate this issue—most notably through its Applicant Care program and the Accenture contract—its ability to ensure that applicants quickly complete those aspects of the hiring process they are responsible for remains limited. For example, as discussed above, applicants are responsible for completing their own SF-86, and CBP officials noted that applicants often take weeks to accurately complete and submit this form. Further, one senior HRM official told us that each time a mistake is identified in this paperwork, applicants receive an additional 5 days to fix the error, which adds up over time. CBP data indicate that while the average duration for this process step has decreased since fiscal year 2015, it continues to take more than 45 days for the average applicant to complete, as noted in table 8 above. As this completed paperwork is required to begin the background investigation and, according to CBP officials, schedule a structured interview, this inherently affects CBP’s ability to reduce its time-to-hire. Further, for the medical examination process step, applicants are responsible for, among other things, scheduling the examination itself and providing pertinent documentation, such as any medical waivers required to pass the exam. According to a senior HRM official, as of February 2018, CBP had to conduct follow-up outreach to roughly 65 percent of applicants during this process step to obtain the information required to complete this step.

CBP Has Enhanced Its Retention Efforts, but Does Not Systematically Collect and Analyze Data on Departing Law Enforcement Personnel

CBP’s Retention of Law Enforcement Officers Varies by Position

From fiscal years 2013 through 2017, CBP’s annual rates of attrition varied across its five law enforcement officer positions. Specifically, OFO’s annual attrition rates for the CBP officer position were consistent at roughly 3 percent, while rates for Border Patrol agent and AMO’s Marine Interdiction Agent positions were below 5 percent in 4 out of the 5 fiscal years we reviewed. When we compared CBP’s annual attrition rates for these positions to those of the other selected law enforcement agencies, we found that CBP’s attrition rates were similar to ICE’s annual attrition rates for its law enforcement positions and generally lower than those of the Secret Service and BOP. Annual attrition rates for AMO’s aviation positions were higher, ranging from 5.0 percent to 9.2 percent for the Air Interdiction Agent position and 7.8 percent to 11.1 percent for the Aviation Enforcement Agent position. Even so, in the last 3 fiscal years, attrition rates for these positions have generally remained lower than those of the Secret Service and BOP (see table 9).

In addition, from fiscal years 2013 through 2017, CBP’s ability to hire more law enforcement officers than it lost varied across positions. Specifically, CBP consistently hired more CBP officers and Aviation Enforcement Agents than it lost. Further, while CBP generally maintained its staffing levels for Marine Interdiction Agents, the agency consistently lost more Border Patrol agents and Air Interdiction Agents than it hired. Even so, onboard staffing levels for all five of CBP’s law enforcement officer positions have consistently remained below authorized staffing levels.

OFO. With the exception of fiscal year 2016, CBP hired more CBP officers than it lost each fiscal year. Specifically, from fiscal years 2013 through 2017, CBP hired an average of 978 CBP officers and lost an average of 719 officers each year, resulting in an average annual gain of 258 CBP officers and an increase in its overall staffing level of nearly 1,300 officers over this 5-year period. However, as OFO’s staffing targets for CBP officers also increased each year during this period, OFO remained below its authorized levels from fiscal years 2014 through 2017. In fact, OFO ended fiscal year 2017 more than 1,100 CBP officers below its annual staffing target (see fig. 7).

Border Patrol. From fiscal years 2013 through 2017, CBP hired an average of 522 Border Patrol agents and lost an average of 890 agents each year, resulting in an average annual loss of 368 Border Patrol agents over this 5-year period. Therefore, despite having an annual attrition rate that mostly remained below 5 percent, Border Patrol was not able to replace departing Border Patrol agents with new hires from fiscal years 2014 through 2017. As a result, staffing levels for Border Patrol agents decreased by 1,838 total agents over our review period and the gap between Border Patrol’s onboard staffing levels and its congressionally-mandated minimum staffing floor has expanded each year from fiscal years 2014 through 2017. Border Patrol ended fiscal year 2017 with 19,437 agents—nearly 2,000 agents below its fiscal year 2016 statutorily-established minimum and 7,000 below the staffing target established in response to Executive Order 13767 (see fig. 8).

AMO. From fiscal years 2013 through 2017, CBP (1) gained Aviation Enforcement Agent staff, (2) generally maintained staffing levels for its Marine Interdiction Agent position, and (3) consistently lost Air Interdiction Agent staff. First, despite the Aviation Enforcement Agent position generally having CBP’s highest annual attrition rates, CBP hired more Aviation Enforcement Agents than it lost each fiscal year and increased its overall staffing level by 79 positions during our review period. Even so, AMO staffing levels for these positions remained below its authorized targets in 4 out of the 5 fiscal years we reviewed. Second, AMO staffing levels for the Marine Interdiction Agent position remained level as AMO lost a net total of 3 Marine Interdiction Agents from fiscal years 2013 through 2017. Nevertheless, onboard staffing levels for these positions remained below the annual authorized levels in 4 of the 5 fiscal years we reviewed. Third, on average, CBP hired 25 Air Interdiction Agents and lost 52 agents each fiscal year, resulting in an average annual loss of 27 agents and a net decrease of 136 positions between fiscal years 2013 and 2017. Further, even though the authorized staffing targets for these positions decreased every year since fiscal year 2013, AMO’s onboard Air Interdiction Agent staffing levels remained below authorized levels in 4 of the 5 fiscal years we reviewed (see fig. 9).

Retaining Law Enforcement Officers in Hard-to-Fill Locations Has Been Challenging for CBP

CBP has acknowledged that improving its retention of qualified law enforcement personnel is critical in addressing staffing shortfalls, but officials identified difficulties in retaining key law enforcement staff as a result of geographically remote and hard-to-fill duty locations. CBP officials across all three operational components and HRM cited location—and specifically employees’ inability to relocate to posts in more desirable locations—as a primary challenge facing the agency in retaining qualified personnel.

Border Patrol officials explained that duty stations in certain remote locations present retention challenges due to quality-of-life factors—for example, agents may not want to live with their families in an area without a hospital, with low-performing schools, or with relatively long commutes from their homes to their duty station. Border Patrol’s difficulty in retaining law enforcement staff in such locations is exacerbated by competition with other federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations for qualified personnel. According to Border Patrol officials, other agencies are often able to offer more desirable duty locations—such as major cities—and, in some cases, higher compensation. CBP data indicate that Border Patrol agents consistently leave the component for employment with other law enforcement agencies, including OFO as well as other DHS components such as ICE. For example, while retirements accounted for more than half of annual CBP officer losses from fiscal years 2013 through 2017, they accounted for less than a quarter of annual Border Patrol agent losses, indicating that the majority of these agents are not retiring but are generally leaving to pursue other employment. Further, according to CBP data, the number of Border Patrol agents departing for employment at other federal agencies increased steadily from 75 agents in fiscal year 2013 to 348 agents in fiscal year 2017—or nearly 40 percent of all Border Patrol agent losses in that fiscal year (see fig. 10).

Further, of the 113 Border Patrol agents who departed CBP for other federal agencies during the first half of fiscal year 2018, 72 agents (64 percent) went to ICE. Border Patrol officials told us that working a standard day shift at ICE in a controlled indoor environment located in a major metropolitan area for similar or even lower salaries presents an attractive career alternative for Border Patrol agents who often work night shifts in extreme weather in geographically remote locations. The President of the National Border Patrol Council also cited this challenge, stating that unless Border Patrol agents have a strong incentive to remain in remote, undesirable locations—such as higher compensation when compared with other law enforcement agencies—they are likely to leave the agency for similar positions located in more desirable locations.

While OFO officials told us the component did not face an across-the- board challenge in retaining CBP officers, they have had difficulty retaining officers in certain hard-to-fill locations that may be geographically remote or unattractive for families, such as Nogales, Arizona, and San Ysidro, California. As a result, CBP officer staffing levels in these locations have consistently remained below authorized targets. For example, OFO ended fiscal year 2017 approximately 300 positions below its authorized staffing level in both its Tucson, Arizona, field office, which includes the port of Nogales, and its San Diego, California, field office, which includes the port of San Ysidro. See figure 11 for more information on the OFO field offices with the four largest gaps between onboard and authorized staffing levels for CBP officer positions from fiscal years 2015 through 2017.

OFO officials stated that CBP officers regularly leave posts in remote or hard-to-fill locations to transfer to similar positions in more desirable locations, both internally within OFO as well as at other law enforcement agencies. In addition, officials from the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CBP officers, told us that excessive overtime and stressful employment conditions—including forced temporary duty travel—also contributed to CBP officers leaving the agency for positions at other law enforcement entities. CBP data indicate that the number of CBP officers who left CBP for employment at other federal agencies increased from 33 in fiscal year 2013 to 108 in fiscal year 2017—or 15 percent of all CBP officer losses in that fiscal year. Likewise, of the 66 CBP officers who departed CBP for other federal agencies during the first half of fiscal year 2018, 34 officers (52 percent) went to ICE.

AMO has also had difficulty retaining its law enforcement personnel—and particularly its Air Interdiction Agent staff—in hard-to-fill locations, such as Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and Laredo, Texas. However, given the unique qualifications and competencies required for the Air Interdiction Agent position, AMO does not compete with other law enforcement organizations. Instead, AMO officials told us they compete with the commercial airline industry for qualified pilots. Specifically, they stated that this competition is exacerbated by a nationwide shortage of pilots. In addition, AMO officials explained that there is a perception among applicants that commercial airlines are able to offer pilots more desirable locations and higher compensation. However, they told us that AMO generally provided pilots with higher starting salaries than many regional airlines as well as most career options available to helicopter pilots.

CBP Has Taken Steps to Address Retention Challenges

All three CBP operational components have taken steps to retain qualified law enforcement personnel by offering opportunities for employees to relocate to more desirable locations and pursuing the use of financial incentives, special salary rates, and other payments and allowances.

Relocation Opportunities. Border Patrol, OFO, and AMO have formal programs providing law enforcement officers with opportunities to relocate. For example, in fiscal year 2017, Border Patrol implemented its Operational Mobility Program and received initial funding to relocate about 500 Border Patrol agents to new locations based on the component’s staffing needs. According to Border Patrol officials, retaining current employees is a top focus for leadership at the component and this program provides Border Patrol agents with opportunities for a paid relocation to a more desirable location at a lower cost to CBP than an official permanent change of station transfer. As of April 2018, Border Patrol officials told us that 322 Border Patrol agents had accepted reassignment opportunities through the program so far and the component hopes to continue receiving funding to provide these opportunities.

Likewise, OFO’s National Reassignment Opportunity Bulletin provides CBP officers with opportunities to voluntarily relocate to new ports of entry at their own expense. CBP officers are able to submit reassignment requests multiple times throughout the year and selections are made based on OFO’s staffing needs as well as employees’ seniority and other eligibility requirements. According to OFO officials, the program has been in place since February 2012, and OFO data indicate a recent increase in reassignments from 122 participating CBP officers in calendar year 2016 to 202 officers in 2017. Further, these officials noted that CBP officers are also able to relocate to new duty stations through partner swaps—when two employees assigned to different duty locations agree to switch—and hardship reassignments—for example, when a CBP officer must relocate because a spouse has been transferred to a new location for work.

Also, AMO personnel who are non-bargaining unit employees and have served for at least 3 years in their current location are eligible for noncompetitive paid relocations. AMO officials told us that opportunities for relocations are posted every few months in which eligible personnel can apply for transfers to specific duty locations based on the needs of the operational component.

Financial Incentives and Other Payments and Allowances. CBP’s three operational components have also recently taken steps to supplement employees’ salaries through the use of human capital flexibilities—such as retention and relocation incentives and special salary rates—as well as other payments and allowances. CBP’s goal in pursuing these human capital flexibilities is to retain current employees— especially in remote or hard-to-fill locations—who are likely to internally relocate within CBP to more desirable duty locations or depart the agency for similar positions at other law enforcement organizations or commercial airlines. Supplementing the salaries of its employees is consistent with a leading practice we identified in retaining qualified law enforcement personnel—specifically, agencies should ensure they are offering pay and compensation comparable with other law enforcement agencies. Further, two of the three other selected law enforcement agencies we reviewed regularly used retention incentives and other human capital flexibilities to help retain qualified law enforcement personnel in cases where filling the position would be difficult or recruitment costs would be high. However, we found that from fiscal years 2013 through 2017, CBP’s use of such financial incentives and other payments was limited as the agency paid a total of 4 retention incentives and 13 relocation incentives, and implemented 1 special salary rate for all positions during this 5-year period.

From fiscal year 2013 through 2017, Border Patrol did not offer retention incentives to agents and paid 2 relocation incentives to transfer Border Patrol agents to Artesia, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C., at a cost of roughly $78,000. However, in fiscal year 2018, Border Patrol increased its use of relocation incentives to facilitate the transfer of agents to duty stations along the southwest border that are less desirable due to the remoteness of the location and lack of basic amenities and infrastructure. Specifically, as of April 2018, 67 Border Patrol agents had received such incentives to relocate to duty stations in Ajo, Arizona; Calexico, California; and the Big Bend region in Texas; among others.

While Border Patrol did not offer retention incentives during our review period, it submitted a formal request to CBP leadership in February 2018 for a 10 percent across-the-board retention incentive for all Border Patrol agents at the GS-13 level and below, which represents the majority of the component’s frontline workforce. According to Border Patrol documentation, these incentives, if implemented, could help reduce Border Patrol’s attrition rate—which has consistently outpaced its hiring rate—by helping retain agents who may have otherwise left Border Patrol for similar positions in OFO, ICE, or other law enforcement agencies. According to HRM officials, as of April 2018, CBP leadership was evaluating Border Patrol’s group retention incentive request, including the costs associated with implementing this 10 percent across-the-board incentive. In addition, as the incentive would benefit Border Patrol agents in all of the component’s duty locations, the extent to which this effort would be effective in targeting agent attrition in the remote locations that represent CBP’s largest staffing challenges remains to be seen.

In addition, as of May 2018, CBP was planning to submit a request to OPM for a $10 per day remote duty location allowance for Border Patrol agents staffed to 17 geographically remote stations. These stations meet OPM’s definition of “remote worksites” and have quality-of-life conditions that are substantially below the standard at most other CBP duty locations. According to the agency, this allowance could help to address the attrition of Border Patrol agents at these duty stations. However, like its group retention incentive request, it is not yet known whether this proposal will be approved.

From fiscal years 2013 through 2017, OFO paid a total of 4 retention incentives at a cost of $149,000 to retain CBP officers in Tucson, Arizona; Detroit, Michigan; Carbury, North Dakota; and Laredo, Texas. Further, OFO paid 7 relocation incentives at a cost of approximately $160,000 to relocate personnel to the hard-to-fill ports of Alcan and Nome, Alaska; Coburn Gore, Maine; and Detroit, Michigan. One OFO official told us OFO did not regularly use retention incentives because its relatively low annual attrition rates make it difficult to propose a persuasive business case to CBP leadership that such incentives are necessary. Further, another OFO official explained that OFO’s strategy is focused on using recruitment incentives to staff hard-to-fill locations with new employees. As discussed above, OFO officials told us this strategy has been effective in retaining CBP officers in most of the hard-to-fill locations where recruitment incentives have been used since fiscal year 2015.

In addition to relocation and retention incentives, OFO received OPM approval in fiscal year 2017 to implement a special salary rate for CBP officers staffed to the hard-to-fill location of Portal, North Dakota—a port that consistently experienced CBP officer losses of more than 10 percent each year. Specifically, this special salary rate supplements CBP officers’ base salaries up to 40 percent and, according to OFO officials as of February 2018, there had not been any CBP officer departures from the port since this rate was implemented in June 2017. OFO officials stated that while recruitment incentives can bring applicants to hard-to-fill locations, special salary rates may be able to retain them for longer periods. However, while OFO officials have cited the effectiveness of this special salary rate in retaining personnel, this rate only applies to one hard-to-fill location and does not address OFO’s ongoing staffing challenges in other chronically understaffed locations. According to OFO officials, the component is considering requesting additional special salary rates for such locations where attaining authorized staffing levels has proved difficult, but these officials noted that such discussions are in the preliminary stage due to the extensive effort and amount of time required to pursue this option. Specifically, these officials told us that requesting OPM approval for a special salary rate in Portal, North Dakota, was an onerous and extensive process that took CBP and OPM more than 2 years to complete from start to finish.

From fiscal years 2013 through 2017, AMO did not offer retention incentives to law enforcement personnel and paid a total of 4 relocation incentives to transfer three Air Interdiction Agents and one Marine Interdiction Agent to Puerto Rico at a cost of approximately $84,000. However, AMO has taken steps to pursue additional human capital flexibilities to address its difficulty in retaining Air Interdiction Agents, including a group retention incentive and a special salary rate. Specifically, in September 2017, AMO submitted an official request to HRM for a 10 percent group retention incentive for Air Interdiction Agents staffed to duty locations in Yuma and Sierra Vista, Arizona; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Laredo, Alpine, and McAllen, Texas; and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. According to the request, the incentive is intended to help AMO retain qualified pilots in these hard-to-fill locations by raising their salaries to be more competitive with commercial airlines. HRM officials told us in March 2018 they were working with AMO and CBP’s Office of Finance to assess the proposal’s cost.

In addition, as of April 2018, AMO was in the process of drafting a special salary rate request for all Air Interdiction Agents from GS-11 through GS- 13 at all AMO locations. HRM officials confirmed they were working with AMO officials on this request, including evaluating whether AMO meets OPM’s criteria. HRM officials told us that OPM’s criteria for approving the use of special salary rates represent a high bar and AMO will have to present a strong business case that demonstrates a regular pattern of component-wide Air Interdiction Agent losses.

CBP Does Not Have a Systematic Process to Capture and Analyze Data on Departing Law Enforcement Officers

CBP does not have a systematic process for capturing and analyzing information on law enforcement officers who are leaving, such as an exit interview or survey. As a result, the agency does not have important information it could use to help inform future retention efforts. CBP officials across all three components confirmed that they do not systematically conduct formal exit interviews to collect data on departing employees. Officials from OFO and AMO told us that departing law enforcement officers receive the DHS exit survey and therefore have the option to provide these data. However, while CBP officials explained that DHS provides the survey response data to CBP on a quarterly basis, AMO officials told us that this information was of limited value due to low response rates. Further, when we requested these data, CBP was unable to provide the survey response data—or the percentage of departing employees who had completed the survey—citing a technical reporting error in DHS’s system. In addition, according to CBP officials, in August 2017, DHS communicated that it no longer required CBP (or DHS’s other components) to use the DHS exit survey.

In the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, Border Patrol implemented its own exit survey, which includes questions gauging departing employees’ reasons for leaving, length of service, and, if applicable, what organization they are departing for, among other questions. While such questions should provide CBP with useful data on the factors affecting Border Patrol agent departures, Border Patrol officials told us that the response rate was 9 percent as of January 2018. When we asked these officials about the steps they were taking to improve this response rate, they replied that individual Border Patrol sectors were responsible for disseminating these surveys and the headquarters officials were unsure of the extent to which sector-level officials were sending the surveys to departing employees. To ensure the surveys were being sent, a senior Border Patrol headquarters official explained that sector-level officials have been told to copy him on all e-mails disseminating the survey.

According to CBP officials, in April 2018, the agency launched an initiative to develop a CBP-wide exit survey. The agency plans to develop customized questions for the survey, conduct a pilot of the survey in July 2018, and integrate the survey into CBP’s off-boarding process by the beginning of fiscal year 2019. While CBP provided us with these project milestone dates, the agency did not provide any documentation describing key aspects of the initiative, such as whether CBP will develop a strategy focused on encouraging departing employees to complete the survey to foster higher response rates. Further, CBP did not provide any information on how the agency planned to analyze and use data collected by the exit survey to inform its efforts to retain qualified law enforcement personnel.

Two of the other selected law enforcement agencies we reviewed—BOP and the Secret Service—use exit surveys to collect a wide range of information on departing employees, while ICE is currently developing its own survey. For example, similar to Border Patrol’s exit survey, BOP’s uses a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions to assess reasons for departures as well as employee attitudes toward compensation, work-life balance and other working conditions, and supervisors. Further, both BOP’s and the Secret Service’s surveys inquire about actions the agencies could have taken that would have prevented the employee’s departure.

CBP officials said that management is generally aware of the factors that influence law enforcement officer departures, including the main reason— they want to relocate to more desirable locations. Specifically, Border Patrol officials stated that managers have anecdotal knowledge through informal conversations or meetings at the local level with departing Border Patrol agents, and OFO officials stated that when a CBP officer leaves, there is a general understanding among their colleagues as to the reasons for their departure. In contrast to OFO and Border Patrol officials, AMO officials stated that because of the low participation rates on the DHS survey, the component does not have enough data to understand and address the factors that influence employees’ decisions to leave. Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government state that management should obtain relevant data from reliable sources and process these data into quality information to make informed decisions in achieving key objectives. Taking steps to ensure that the agency’s operational components are systematically collecting and analyzing complete and accurate information on all departing law enforcement officers—including the factors that influenced their decision to separate— would better position CBP to understand its retention challenges and take appropriate action to address them.

Conclusions

CBP has made progress in improving its recruitment, hiring, and retention of law enforcement officers, including increasing the total number of applications it receives for these positions and reducing the amount of time it takes to hire applicants. Further, CBP has taken steps to address its primary challenge in retaining qualified law enforcement officers by offering opportunities for these personnel to relocate and pursuing the use of financial incentives and other payments to supplement employee salaries. Even so, retaining law enforcement officers in hard-to-fill locations continues to be challenging for CBP.

Although CBP management may be aware of the primary reason law enforcement personnel leave the agency, CBP does not have a systematic process in place across its three operational components to capture and analyze information on these departures, such as an exit interview or survey. Taking steps to ensure that the agency’s operational components are systematically capturing and analyzing a wide range of information on all departing law enforcement officers and the factors that influenced their decisions to leave would better position CBP to understand its retention challenges and take appropriate action to address them.

Recommendation for Executive Action

The Commissioner of CBP should ensure that its operational components systematically collect and analyze data on departing law enforcement officers and use this information to inform retention efforts. (Recommendation 1)

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

We provided a draft of this product to DHS for review and comment. DHS provided written comments, which are noted below and reproduced in full in appendix I, and technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. We also provided the draft report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons for review and comment, which indicated via e-mail that it did not have any comments on the draft report.

DHS concurred with our recommendation and described the actions it plans to take in response. Specifically, DHS stated that CBP is taking steps to develop an agency-wide exit survey to collect information on departing law enforcement officers for implementation in fiscal year 2019. DHS also stated that CBP is working to develop a mass communications plan to facilitate the completion of the survey by exiting employees to ensure an effective response rate. Systematically capturing and analyzing quality information on departing law enforcement officers will help CBP to understand its retention challenges. To fully address the intent of our recommendation, CBP will also need to use this information to address its retention challenges and inform its overall retention efforts.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional committees, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and other interested parties. In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-8777 or gamblerr@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 key contributions to this report are listed in appendix II.

Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security

Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff Acknowledgements

In addition to the contact named above, Adam Hoffman (Assistant Director), Bryan Bourgault, Eric Hauswirth, Tyler Kent, Amanda Miller, Sasan J. “Jon” Najmi, Leslie Sarapu, Michael Steinberg, and Adam Vogt made key contributions to this report.