The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has spent millions in the past year to contract a firm to hire thousands of Border Patrol and other agents, but the process has come up extremely short, according to a report from the DHS Office of the Inspector General (IG).
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) contracted Accenture in late 2017 to hire 7,500 qualified CBP officers, Border Patrol agents, and other interdiction specialists over the next few years. The hiring was to fulfill requirements of a January 2017 Executive Order to improve border security enforcement.
“Yet, as of October 1, 2018—10 months into the contract—CBP has paid Accenture approximately $13.6 million for startup costs, security requirements, recruiting, and applicant support,” the report states. “In return, Accenture has processed two accepted job offers.”
The IG report also says that although Accenture was to provide experts to enhance the process, CBP carried much of the load.
“Accenture did not always provide necessary technical experts and experienced vendors, such as human resource personnel and those involved in the background investigation process, to complete CBP’s hiring process end-to-end, as it indicated it would,” the report states.
In addition, the report states that Accenture also didn’t provide technological tools it promised, including software for security clearance form validations that would have sped up the process.
CBP challenges the IG in the report regarding $13.6 million spent for just two hires.
“CBP management indicates that, in return for $13.6 million, Accenture has created a hiring structure, tailored technology solutions to support and manage the hiring process, stood up an applicant care center, marketed and recruited thousands of new applicants, and conducted many of the hiring steps for several thousand applicants,” the report states.
The IG, however, stood by its assessment, noting that CBP and Accenture have not been able to document or track Accenture’s recruitment process.
“As such, we question the veracity of CBP management’s assertion and reiterate our management alert finding that ‘Accenture could not track results of its online marketing and recruitment efforts due to Office of Management and Budget restrictions, as well as privacy concerns,’” the IG responded.
The IG recommends that the CBP commissioner determine whether Accenture should reimburse DHS, reassess the payment structure to Accenture, as well as implement metrics to track Accenture’s performance.
Read the entire report here.
© 2018 Homeland411
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