The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is working to "cut costs" after a government oversight agency found that the department is potentially wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on dysfunctional, fragmented, and bloated programs, an agency spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon.
DHS, which has an annual budget over $60 billion, suffers from "fragmentation, overlap, [and] potential duplication," as well as from weak program management, according to an April 26 report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Although the GAO has issued "more than 1,300 reports and congressional testimonies [since 2003] designed to strengthen DHS’s program management, performance measurement efforts, and management processes," the agency continues to waste taxpayer funds, according to the report.
"The department has more to do to ensure that it conducts its missions efficiently and effectively while simultaneously preparing to address future challenges that face the department and the nation," according to the report, which noted that it has issued around 1,800 recommendations to DHS alone.
The report has prompted DHS to promise greater oversight and focus on cost-cutting measures.
"DHS is working to fully address all GAO recommendations and continues to implement a variety of initiatives to cut costs, share resources across components, and consolidate and streamline operations wherever possible," a DHS spokesperson told the Free Beacon.
DHS has already "identified over $4 billion in cost avoidances and reductions," an agency official said on background.
DHS "has become the third-largest federal department, with more than 224,000 employees and an annual budget of about $60 billion," according to the GAO.
The department has most recently been engulfed in a controversy over the amount of ammunition it stockpiles for future use. It currently has around 247 million rounds or two years worth of ammo on hand. Critics allege the agency is hoarding bullets in order to drive up costs.
DHS plans to spend around $37 million on ammunition this year alone.
The GAO report encourages DHS to boost reformation efforts to ensure taxpayer money is not continuously wasted on duplicate programs.
The GAO "identified six new areas where DHS could take actions to address fragmentation, overlap, or potential duplication or achieve significant cost savings" in 2013 alone, according to the report.
This is in addition to more than 50 other actions the GAO has suggested over the years, many of which continue to plague DHS.
"Of the 31 actions and outcomes GAO identified as important to addressing this area [of management], DHS has fully or mostly addressed eight, partially addressed 16, and initiated seven," the report states.
DHS has failed to track the money it spends on research and development, meaning that more than $800 million was spent without oversight, according to the report.
"DHS does not have a department-wide policy defining research and development (R&D) or guidance directing how components are to report R&D activities," the report states. "As a result, the department does not know its total annual investment in R&D."
DHS has failed to fully implement the GAO’s recommendations over the years, according to the report, which detailed multiple instances where either partial or no progress was made in preventing waste.
Poor oversight led the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is under DHS’s purview, to spend more than $20 billion between fiscal years 2002 and 2011 on duplicative programs, according to the report.
The GAO additionally found that the Transportation Administration Authority (TSA), which is also under DHS’s purview, could save $470 million over the next five years by implementing "more efficient baggage screening systems" at the nation’s airports.
GAO also recommends hiking airplane passenger security fees in order to boost revenue for DHS.
"Options for adjusting the passenger aviation security fee could further offset billions of dollars in civil aviation security costs," the report states. "These options could increase fee collections from about $2 billion to $10 billion over 5 years."