	Assessment Summary

Since its inception, TSA has been focused on meeting an urgent mandate  to deploy more than 55,000 airport passenger and baggage screening  personnel and equipment to secure the nation’s airways. To do so, it  created basic organizational and acquisition infrastructures. Specifically, our review of TSA’s acquisition function and  inspector general reports identified a number of challenges in each of the  four areas we assessed. Organizational alignment and leadership: TSA’s Office of Acquisition  is at an organizational level too low to oversee the acquisition process,  coordinate acquisition activities, and enforce acquisition policies  effectively. The position of the office hinders its ability to help ensure that  TSA follows the acquisition processes that enable the agency to get the  best value on goods and services. Policies and processes: Because TSA’s acquisition policies and processes  emphasize personal accountability, good judgment, justifiable business  decisions, and integrated acquisition teams, effective implementation of  TSA’s policies and processes depends on clear communication, measures  to evaluate performance, and incentives to reward good acquisition  practices. Effective implementation of TSA’s policies and processes has  been hindered, however, by several factors: (1) TSA has not effectively  communicated its acquisition policies throughout the agency; (2) TSA  lacks internal controls to identify and address implementation issues and  performance measures to determine whether TSA’s acquisition policies  achieve desired outcomes; and (3) TSA’s deadline-driven culture fails to  reinforce the importance of complying with policies. Human capital: TSA risks an imbalance in the size and capabilities of its  acquisition workforce that could diminish the performance of the  acquisition function throughout the agency. TSA’s Office of Acquisition  worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security to develop and  begin implementing an acquisition workforce plan. However, TSA’s  Human Resource Office, which is responsible for recruiting and hiring the  acquisition workforce agencywide, did not participate in developing the  acquisition workforce plan. Without input from the Human Resources  Office, it is not clear that the workforce plan can be effectively  implemented throughout the agency. In addition, the Office of Acquisition  reports that it is having difficulty attracting, developing, and retaining a  workforce with the acquisition knowledge and skills required to  accomplish TSA’s mission. Knowledge and information management: While TSA is participating in  the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to develop functional  requirements for an enterprisewide solution that supports the  department’s resource management functions—including procurement  and finance—TSA does not currently have the strategic information  needed to support effective acquisition management decisions. To manage  on a day-to-day basis, program and acquisition managers are relying on  data derived from informal, ad hoc systems—which are often out-of-date,  incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise unreliable. TSA is in the process of  adopting the Coast Guard’s procurement and financial systems as interim  solutions until the Department of Homeland Security implements  departmentwide systems. These contracts represent about 48 percent of  TSA’s fiscal year 2003 budget. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To review how well TSA is positioned to carry out its acquisition function,  we used GAO’s previous best practices work as our criteria.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), within the Department of Homeland Security, was established to secure the nation's transportation systems, beginning with commercial airports. To meet its mission, TSA has awarded over $8.5 billion in contracts since its creation in 2001. Spending on contracts accounted for 48 percent of TSA's fiscal year 2003 budget. Because of TSA's reliance on contracts to carry out its mission, its acquisition infrastructure-- including oversight, policies and processes, acquisition workforce, and information about its acquisitions--is critical. GAO was asked to review TSA's acquisition infrastructure to assess how well TSA is positioned to carry out its acquisition function.

What GAO Found

Since its inception, TSA has been focused on meeting an urgent mandate to deploy more than 55,000 airport passenger and baggage screening personnel and equipment to secure the nation's airways. To do so, it created basic organizational and acquisition infrastructures. However, our review of TSA's acquisition function and inspector general reports identified a number of challenges in each of the four areas we assessed. Organizational alignment and leadership: TSA's Office of Acquisition is at an organizational level too low to oversee the acquisition process, coordinate acquisition activities, and enforce acquisition policies effectively. The position of the office hinders its ability to help ensure that TSA follows acquisition processes that enable the agency to get the best value on goods and services. Policies and processes: TSA's acquisition policies and processes emphasize personal accountability, good judgment, justifiable business decisions, and integrated acquisition teams. However, effective implementation of TSA's policies and processes has been hindered by several factors. For example, TSA has not effectively communicated its acquisition policies throughout the agency. TSA also lacks internal controls to identify and address implementation issues and performance measures to determine whether acquisition policies are achieving desired results. Human capital: TSA risks an imbalance in the size and capabilities of its acquisition workforce that could diminish the performance of the acquisition function throughout the agency. TSA's Office of Acquisition worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security to develop and begin implementing an acquisition workforce plan. However, TSA's Human Resource Office, which is responsible for recruiting and hiring the acquisition workforce agencywide, did not participate in developing the acquisition workforce plan. Without input from the Human Resources Office, it is not clear that the workforce plan can be effectively implemented throughout the agency. In addition, the Office of Acquisition reports that it is having difficulty attracting, developing, and retaining a workforce with the acquisition knowledge and skills required to accomplish TSA's mission. Knowledge and information management: while TSA is participating in the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to develop requirements for an enterprisewide solution, TSA does not currently have the strategic information needed to support effective acquisition management decisions. To manage on a day-to-day basis, program and acquisition managers are relying on data derived from informal, ad-hoc systems. TSA is in the process of adopting the Coast Guard's procurement and financial systems as interim solutions until the Department of Homeland Security implements a departmentwide system. However, near-term improvement in acquisition outcomes will be difficult because TSA does not have the data needed to analyze and improve its acquisition processes.