GAO: US-VISIT Not Meeting Expectations, Program Management Challenges Need to Be Addressed

February 24, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

After spending almost four years and more than $1B, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implemented entry capabilities at most ports of entry, however, it has not implemented a biometric exit capability or a suitable alternative, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

As of December 2006, U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) deployed and was operating entry capability at 115 airports, 14 seaports and 154 of 170 land ports of entry.

However, the GAO report said the implementation of a biometric land exit capability is not feasible, according to program officials, because the only proven technology available would require additional staffing and infrastructure demands and cause delays with potential impacts on trade and commerce.

Also, testing and analysis of a non-biometric solution identified numerous performance and reliability problems and such an alternative technology does not meet legislative requirements, according to the report. The DHS believes that advances over the next five to 10 years will allow solutions that do not require major infrastructure changes, but the prospects for such technology are uncertain.

The report said the DHS continues to face longstanding US-VISIT management challenges and future uncertainties including:

• For almost four years, the DHS continued to pursue US-VISIT without producing the program's operational and technological context. According to program officials, an immigration and border management strategic plan was drafted in March 2005 to show how US-VISIT is aligned with the DHS's organizational mission and to define an overall immigration and border management vision.

  After almost two years, this plan has not yet been approved, but the acting director said that it is currently with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. At the same time, the DHS launched other major security programs without defining the relationship between US-VISIT and these programs.

• The DHS has yet to economically justify its investment in US-VISIT increments or assess their operational impacts. For more than three years, the GAO reported that the program did not adequately assess the increment's costs and benefits because the assessments were unclear and insufficient and the cost estimates upon which they were based did not meet key criteria for reliable cost estimating.

  The GAO further reported that the program had not assessed the impact of the entry and exit capabilities on operations and facilities, in part, because the scope of the evaluations performed were too limited.

• The DHS has not implemented key acquisition and financial management controls. For example, the GAO reported that the program had not effectively overseen contract work performed on its behalf by other DHS and non-DHS agencies and these agencies did not always establish and implement effective contract oversight activities.

• Without these management controls, there is greater risk that US-VISIT will not produce the right solution and be managed the right way. Accordingly, the GAO said it made numerous recommendations to address these management challenges.

The DHS is investing billions of dollars in its US-VISIT program to collect, maintain and share information on selected foreign nationals who enter and exit the U.S. The program uses biometric identifiers including digital fingerscans and photographs to screen people against watch lists and to verify that a visitor is the person who was issued a visa or other travel document. The program is also to biometrically confirm the individual's departure.

Given where US-VISIT is today and the challenges and uncertainties associated with where it is going the GAO said it believes that the DHS is long overdue in demonstrating that it is pursuing the right US-VISIT solution and that it is managing US-VISIT the right way.

=Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).