Successor to virtual border fence faulted by auditor

The Homeland Security Department has provided no evidence that a new plan to intertwine surveillance technologies across the nation's southern border will be more practical and cost-efficient than the failed $1.5 billion virtual fence the project is supposed to replace, a federal auditor said on Tuesday.

In January, DHS scuttled its Secure Border Initiative network after a yearlong review found the one-size-fits all approach to outfitting the border with synchronized monitoring devices, intelligence databases and communication networks would not be technologically feasible in desert terrain. The department's Customs and Border Protection bureau has since initiated a sequel that will tailor equipment to suit the unique environment of each border section, starting with a request for information on commercial technologies for erecting interconnected fixed towers. The endeavor is aimed at patrolling for illegal immigrants, drug smuggling and terrorist-related activity.

But the Government Accountability Office, as well as security and technology experts, say the substitute plan closely resembles the original project that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars and years of work on tools that malfunctioned in the severe heat.

"The RFI that CBP has put out looks very similar to the kinds of documents we saw with SBInet at the very beginning," Richard M. Stana, a GAO director, told members of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security at a hearing. "Our problem is we haven't seen to date the documents that translate their view of the alternatives [to SBInet] into budget and operations and planning."

President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget requests $242 million to fund three of the five planned towers in Arizona, though installation would not begin until 2013, according to GAO. Stana said the entire tower system for the state is expected to cost about $570 million. The process of extending the system across the border would continue until 2021 or 2026.

Some members blanched at the projected schedule.

"That's a long time," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. "It took us a decade to put a man on the moon. I don't understand why it takes so long."

CBP officials at the hearing explained that flexibility has been built into the new strategy to allow the bureau to acquire technologies for specific sections in, for example, Texas, when pressing threats arise.

Some outside experts have suggested the administration try deploying production-line-ready military or industrial equipment that can endure extreme weather, rather than the commercial infrastructure the RFI currently calls for.

DHS officials have said they are listening to such feedback. At Tuesday's hearing, Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner of the CBP Office of Technology, Innovation and Acquisition, said the bureau is procuring suitable sensor equipment through an Army contract vehicle.

McCaul praised that decision.

Still, the federal watchdog's work has raised questions regarding the chosen technology mix. "We have not been given access to documents," Stana told lawmakers, underscoring the lack of justification for decisions made as the "key shortcoming in our ability to analyze for you what this technology deployment really means."

He noted this is the fourth attempt at securing the border with monitoring devices. "This time, we ought to get it right with proper planning and proper judgments exercised," Stana said.

DHS officials disagreed with GAO's observation that the department's analysis of the new plan does not substantiate its cost-effectiveness, according to Stana's written testimony.

A separate GAO report that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released on Tuesday points to larger problems the Obama administration is having in scrutinizing the nearly $80 billion spent annually on information technology governmentwide.

The Office of Management and Budget in 2009 launched the so-called IT Dashboard website to track the budget, scheduling and performance of major IT projects. But Tuesday's audit found the ratings of a sample of investments, including several DHS initiatives, did not always accurately reflect the current status of projects.

Leaders of the Senate committee on Tuesday urged DHS and the other agencies to strengthen their reporting on IT contracts.

"Agencies must do a better job of supplying OMB with correct data, and OMB needs to improve its calculations and rating systems," Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said in a statement. "If the IT Dashboard works the way it was intended, the federal government could see billions of dollars in savings and a significant reduction in waste."

Ranking Republican Susan Collins of Maine added: "Government agencies must be vigilant in requiring that IT projects are properly planned and that clear requirements are established at the beginning of the program. . . . We have already seen hundreds of millions of dollars wasted by the federal government due to poorly planned and poorly managed IT projects."

This is the second time GAO has criticized the validity of the scores on the IT Dashboard, having issued a similar audit last July.

OMB officials objected to the methodology of Tuesday's study, which relied on earned value management numbers -- a comparison between planned performance and actual progress. OMB officials said such data vary significantly across agencies.