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. 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. 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. 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. 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.