The Government Accountability Office assessed 24 major acquisition programs of the Department of Homeland Security and found that 19 of those were meeting their cost and schedule baseline goals as of September 2020.
GAO found that five DHS acquisition programs remained in breach of either schedule or cost goals or both as of September last year, including the National Cybersecurity Protection System and the Grants Management Modernization, according to a report published Tuesday.
The report also showed that some of the programs that were meeting the established goals are at risk of schedule delays or cost increases.
The congressional watchdog recommended that DHS ask the undersecretary for management to “ensure the requirements for establishing key acquisition documentation in the acquisition management instruction and Systems Engineering Life Cycle Instruction and Guidebook align.”
Congress should also determine what additional information on schedule, performance and cost risks for DHS acquisition programs it needs to inform oversight and establish reporting mechanisms for the department to supply that information, GAO recommended.