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Leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee recently asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate budget shortfalls and other management challenges at the Homeland Security Department division responsible for protecting federal facilities.

In a Feb. 20 letter requesting the review, lawmakers noted a July 2004 GAO report on difficulties the Federal Protective Service faced following its transfer to DHS from its previous home, the General Services Administration. They said in some areas, the problems identified "appear to have worsened" since 2004.

They pointed to the budget shortfalls in particular. The Homeland Security Department reported to the Senate Appropriations Committee last year that FPS faced a shortfall of $42 million. Multiple agency sources confirmed that the amount has since grown to more than $80 million.

The protective service, which is housed within DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, has a staff of about 1,500 federal employees, and also manages about 15,000 contract security guards. Agencies reimburse FPS for its services through fees, and late payments are among the causes of the budget shortfall. Some have suggested the fees should be raised.

In addition, lawmakers requested that GAO determine whether it was appropriate to place FPS within ICE, an investigative agency responsible largely for enforcing immigration laws. They also asked if FPS was equipped to fulfill its mission, including whether it was able to manage its large contingent of contract guards.

The letter was signed by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the committee; Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking member; Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of a subcommittee on the federal workforce; and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, ranking member of that subcommittee.

GAO and ICE officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is not the only panel that has targeted FPS for additional oversight and investigations. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee places FPS among the oversight priorities listed on its Web site. Multiple sources confirmed that committee is pursuing separate projects to review FPS.

The transportation committee's Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management placed a statement on the Web site saying members were "concerned that FPS' placement in [ICE] within DHS will not utilize FPS' capabilities to the fullest." The statement, not endorsed by any particular lawmaker, noted specific concerns "that placing FPS, a fee-for-service account, within ICE's appropriated account, has contributed to financial confusion and potential mismanagement."

The House subcommittee will monitor FPS' management, policies and requirements for security at public buildings, the committee Web site said.

FPS' budget issues have raised concerns about a possible downsizing. Voluntary retirement packages offered last year failed to entice as many employees to leave as hoped, multiple agency sources said, and it is possible that FPS will eliminate hundreds of its police jobs in the coming fiscal year. ICE officials have said FPS workers whose jobs are targeted for elimination will have opportunities to work elsewhere within ICE.

COMMENTS

• Another bad GAO report on FPS again. Why isn't this waste of an agency gone! GAO's recommendations make it very clear again and again they are a waste. FPS is a joke and they are totally ineffective. President Bush is correct in wanting to shut them down. To much money has been wasted on worthless Homeland Security programs like FPS when funds could be used for real homeland security programs that protect this country. Mr. Greg Lilyhorn Posted June 16, 2007 11:15 PM
• Now we've got to spend thousands of more dollars on another GAO report when obviously the recommendations made from the previous one (two years ago) wasn't implemented? What are we waiting for and why spend more money or another investigation - just so FPS can go from 80 million in the hole to $100 million while we all wait for the outcome of the GAO Report? Please stop wasting my tax dollars and do what makes common sense to everyone that knows anything about FPS. They are ineffective, in dire need of good management, cannot effectively manage their resources to the tune of millions of dollars. There isn’t enough personnel working in FPS in the first place and the only personnel you'll ever find protecting a federal building is a trained guard - not a single FPS personnel. We don't even bother calling FPS when we need assistance - we utilize the guard or call 911 for help. By the time anyone from FPS arrived - the incident would have been handled and we'd already be back in business before FPS personnel even arrived! Use the FPS personnel elsewhere within ICE and give some homeland security money to the local PDs for all the help that they are already giving us in the first place - and they don't even get reimbursed for it! If Washington officials would just use a little common sense and quit spending $$$ on more and more useless reports - we'd all be a lot better off. The writing is on the wall - why don't they just read that? Eighty million dollars is enough already - just fix the darn thing! GovExec.com reader Posted March 6, 2007 9:39 PM
• If ICE is, as the subcommittee said, "largely responsible for enforcing immigration laws", then just what am I and almost 3,000 other legacy U.S. Customs agents doing here? Our experience and training is in the field of enforcing customs laws, not immigration. If we had wanted to be immigration agents, we would have joined that agency, instead of U.S. Customs, the oldest federal law enforcement agency, until its untimely demise in 2003. Let us out! GovExec.com reader Posted February 26, 2007 12:47 PM