The Department of Homeland Security should improve its communication with acquisition stakeholders in order to refine its procurement programs, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.
GAO on Tuesday published findings which showed that while DHS has been implementing leading acquisition risk management principles, its guidelines fell short of taking into account the potential obstacles at enterprise level.
The government watchdog studied the procurement risk management process of DHS and eight of its components at the program and portfolio levels. GAO found that there were instances where DHS was overly optimistic in assessing risks, which led to the underestimation of cost and schedule for the development and fielding of capabilities.
GAO recommended that DHS add provisions to its risk management guidance, including how to communicate acquisition milestones to leadership, how to manage realized risks and their consequences, and creating more principles on portfolio-level risk management. The agency also cited areas for improvement in cost-benefit analysis of developing versus acquiring technologies, as part of a risk management knowledge sharing approach across the department.