A mission of USCIS is to provide timely and accurate information and services to immigrant and nonimmigrant aliens as well as to federal employees who make informed decisions about, for example, granting citizenship and approving immigration benefits. To perform this mission, staff dispersed among approximately 89 of USCIS’s field offices require, among other things, access to an alien applicant’s case history information. Currently, this information resides primarily in the paper-based A-Files. To improve the reliability and currency of the A-Files, as well as their accessibility to geographically and organizationally dispersed users, USCIS intends to automate the A-Files, beginning with scanning certain forms contained in the A-Files and storing the resulting electronic images. While these automation efforts were to be part of their IT Transformation Program, both A-Files automation and the IT Transformation Program were recently incorporated into an agencywide organizational and business transformation effort referred to as the USCIS Transformation Strategy. A-Files are a critical component of the USCIS mission of ensuring the integrity of the immigration system. These files are used by USCIS staff to make immigration and citizenship decisions. Maintaining the currency of these files and distributing them in a timely manner has been a long- standing challenge. An A-File is the set of records USCIS maintains on certain individuals to document their interaction with USCIS in actions prescribed by the Immigration and Nationality Act and other regulations. The single most important set of records kept by USCIS are A-Files. An A-File contains between one and hundreds of pages of documents and forms, such as submitted benefits and naturalization forms, photographs, fingerprints, and correspondence from family members or third-party sponsors. According to USCIS, A-File information is used to grant or deny immigration-related benefits, capture subsequent status changes, prosecute individuals who violate immigration law, document chain of custody for enforcement, control and account for records in compliance with the code of federal certify the existence or nonexistence of records. USCIS estimates that it currently has more than 55 million of these paper- based files, each of which is to be maintained for a 75-year period. Generally, USCIS processes for adjudicating alien benefit requests vary by type of application or form, and may involve creating, searching, transporting, obtaining, examining, updating, or storing the A-File. Figure 1 is an example of one such process: the Family-Based Adjustment of Status, also referred to as the Application to Register Permanent Residence, or Form I-485. The process of submitting this form involves both manual and automated steps. As illustrated in figure 1, the alien submits the I-485, along with the required fee and supporting information, to a USCIS “lock box” in Chicago that is operated by the Department of the Treasury on behalf of USCIS. Treasury then captures the form electronically and creates an extract file containing selected I-485 data elements that it sends in an electronic format to the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC), along with the original paper form and supporting information. NBC prepares a daily upload file of all cases that need biometric appointments. This information is used to schedule an interview and direct the applicant to the Application Support Center, where biometrics, such as fingerprints, will be captured. NBC obtains the paper application and the selected electronic data elements, and inputs the data elements into the Computer Linked Application Management System 3 (CLAIMS 3). In addition, NBC searches a USCIS electronic index system, known as the Central Index System (CIS), to determine whether an A-File already exists for the individual. If an A-File does not exist, one is created. If one does exist, NBC determines its location by accessing an additional system called the National File Tracking System (NFTS), which tracks the physical location of the A-File. When NBC obtains the requested A-File, it merges the Form I-485 into the A-File. NBC then performs an initial name check using the Interagency Border Inspection System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Name Check Program, and updates the A-File with the results. While NBC is processing the application, the Application Support Center is collecting the applicant’s biometrics and sending the data electronically to the FBI, where a criminal background check is performed on the applicant. When the FBI has completed the background check, it sends the results to NBC, which then prints the results and adds them to the A-File. When the A-File contains the I-485 application, biometrics, and background check results, it is transported to the USCIS local office closest to the applicant for a ruling on the applicant’s request. The local office reviews the file, interviews the applicant, and makes a decision on the permanent residence request. The A-File is then transported to the National Records Center in Missouri for storage (see fig. 2). According to a recent report by the DHS Inspector General (IG), this paper- based process is costly. For example, the estimated costs for copiers and copy paper for one USCIS service center is more than $400,000 per year. Further, according to senior USCIS officials, the agency spends approximately $13 million each year transporting A-Files within USCIS and to other bureaus and agencies. Besides USCIS’s need for A-Files, DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) need access to either the data in the A-Files or the A-Files themselves, as do agencies external to DHS, including the FBI, the Department of State, and state and local governments. For example, USCIS officials told us that the FBI uses A-Files data in performing law enforcement activities. In addition, USCIS documentation shows that ICE uses A-Files as the principle source of information for prosecuting aliens who have committed crimes and for immigration removal proceedings; CBP uses A-Files when it interviews and arrests aliens; and the Department of State uses data within the A-Files when issuing visas to alien visitors. According to USCIS officials, obtaining access to these A-Files has been a long-standing problem. The limitations in the USCIS IT and data-sharing environments are not confined to the A-Files. According to a recent report by the DHS IG, USCIS uses duplicative, nonintegrated, and inefficient data systems that have limited information sharing, resulting in data integrity and reliability problems. For example, adjudicators may need to access more than a dozen systems using between 5 and 17 passwords, and may have to restart these systems multiple times to process a given application. In addition, the IG reported that the networks and hardware platforms across USCIS offices are outdated and inconsistent. The IG also reported that past problems in this IT environment have led to small, disparate business process re-engineering initiatives that were narrowly focused and were not sufficiently coordinated across the organization to enable standardized processes. To address these limitations, USCIS began an IT Transformation Program in March 2005 that was led by the agency’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and was intended to move USCIS progressively toward a paperless environment that facilitates information sharing. In January 2006, USCIS reported that this IT transformation effort was being subsumed into a new, long-term organizational and business transformation effort, referred to as the USCIS Transformation Strategy. Under this strategy, according to USCIS officials, long-term solutions to its A-Files automation needs will be pursued within the context of business process re- engineering. In the interim, however, USCIS still intends to reduce the volume of paper associated with its existing A-Files through a program called the Integrated Digitization Document Management Program (IDDMP). According to USCIS, the goals of the IDDMP are to comply with laws governing electronic information storage and access reduce the backlog of immigration benefit requests, ensure timely access to files, and reduce paper-based file storage and transportation costs; and respond to a statement in The 9/11 Commission Report that all points in the border system—from consular offices to immigration services offices—will need appropriate electronic access to an applicant’s file. To accomplish these objectives, IDDMP is to convert paper forms and documents in existing A-Files to electronic images and manage the retrieval, movement, retention, and disposition of these images. The program is not intended to change existing USCIS core business processes, but rather to merely reduce the amount of paper associated with these business processes and improve user access to these scanned forms and documents. The program is estimated to cost about $190 million over 8 years, which includes planning, acquisition of hardware and software products and services, and operations and maintenance. As part of the IDDMP, USCIS initiated a digitization and storage pilot to scan approximately 1 million A-Files that include adjudicated I-485 forms and supporting documents (each containing about 100 pages). The purpose of the pilot is to validate that the digital format satisfies user needs, to identify network storage requirements, and to provide insight into potential scanning and storage problems. According to USCIS program officials, the pilot involves five separate contracts, three of which are primarily funded from $20 million that Congress had designated for “the historical records project to convert immigration records into an electronic, digitally-accessible format.” The other contracts were awarded using other USCIS funding. Officials told us that they needed to move quickly to obligate these funds before they were due to expire at the end of September 2005, so they awarded four of the contracts in September 2005. A description of each of the contracts follows. Records digitization facility. According to program officials, this contract is intended to set up a facility for scanning the piloted number of A-Files and for scanning future A-Files.