Letter to Honorable Gene L. Dodaro

Letter

U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, this week requested that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a study on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) possibilities for realignment and/or consolidation of their field offices and assets. Miller, joined by Representative Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), in requesting the GAO study. Miller said:

"Over the last ten years since 9/11, our nation has been focused on strengthening the security of our homeland, while at the same time making certain this increased security continues to allow the free flow of commerce. Since my arrival in Congress, I have been a proponent of configuring DHS on a regional basis and I believe Selfridge Air National Guard Base (SANGB) is the logical headquarters for the Midwest Region. SANGB is home to the recently opened Operational Integration Center which is used to coordinate security efforts of all federal, state and local law enforcement and security partners, as well as the U.S. Custom and Border Protection's Great Lakes Air and Marine Branch of the Northern Border Air Wing. SANGB supports land, air and maritime assets which cooperate together to secure the northern border.

"It is now time to fully examine the possibility of regional headquarters around our nation. I am glad that Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman and Ranking Member Susan Collins joined myself and the House Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Henry Cuellar to request a report from the GAO to provide an in depth study of this idea. We are requesting that GAO undertake a two part effort to address these issues: First, assess the current field office structures of the DHS components and identify the potential for administrative cost savings as well as the potential costs of consolidation if a realignment of the components' field structures were to occur; and Second, conduct a follow up review to assess the potential pros and cons and likely impact on the DHS components of the realignment from an operational perspective

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency is based on a regional structure, and my goal with this GAO report is to examine whether or not a similar organization will enable DHS to achieve cost savings and at the same time improve border security operations. I am a firm believer that it will and I look forward to receiving this report."

Below is the text of the report request Miller, Cuellar, Liebermann and Collins sent to the GAO:

The Honorable Gene L. Dodaro
Acting Comptroller General
United States Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington. D.C. 20548

Dear Mr. Dodaro:

Section 706 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to submit a plan to Congress for consolidating its regional offices. The Secretary of Homeland Security was to develop and submit to Congress a plan to consolidate and co-locate the regional or field offices of agencies that were transferred to DHS if those offices were located in the same municipality and portions of regional or field offices of other agencies, to the extent that those offices perform functions that were transferred to DHS.

Testifying before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security at a May 20, 2003, hearing, then-Secretary Ridge announced plans to create regional offices that would serve as primary contact points with state and local government officials. These regional offices were to be determined within the context of rearranging the department's field structure. On February 4, 2004, the Department issued a report that revealed details of some modest actions that had been taken, as well as plans for specific consolidations in the new future and analysis of longer-term options to meet the department's mission. These plans lost momentum after Ridge departed as Secretary, and were not fully developed or implemented.

This issue received renewed priority within DHS in the 2010 Bottom Up Review (BUR), which proposed to "realign component regional configurations into a single DHS regional structure." The report noted that the Department was "currently examining the best mechanism for harmonizing and integrating its regional structure, including any recommendations regarding legislative authority necessary to effectuate such an alignment." But it is not apparent that any efforts have been made to date within the Department to implement this recommendation.

Given the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our national government, it is time to renew efforts to examine the operational "footprint" of the multiple component agencies that comprise DHS's national field office structure to determine whether there are potential administrative and logistical cost savings, operational efficiencies, or other benefits from consideration that could be achieved after accounting for the costs of consolidation. Therefore, we are requesting that GAO undertake a two part effort to address these issues. In the first report, we would like GAO to assess the current field office structures of the DHS components and identify the potential for administrative cost savings as well as the potential costs of consolidation if a realignment of the components' field structures were to occur. Specifically, we would like to know:

What is the nationwide field office structure of key DHS components?

What assessments, if any, has DHS conducted on the costs and benefits of consolidation?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of any assessments conducted?

What steps, if any, has DHS taken to consolidate the regional operations of its component agencies and organizations since reporting to Congress in 2004 and to implement the recommendation of the Bottom Up Review on the Department's regional structure?

What challenges have been identified that have limited or could limit DHS efforts to consolidate the field office structure of key components?

Once GAO has identified and reported on the potential for cost savings that could result from a realignment and consolidation of DHS component field structures, we would like you to conduct a follow up review to assess the potential pros and cons and likely impact on the DHS components of the realignment from an operational perspective. Specifically, we would like to know:

What are the primary operational missions of DHS components in the field?

What DHS-wide standard operating procedures and/or organization structure currently exist to ensure that DHS agencies/components interoperate at the regional or field-office level in a routine, standardized fashion?

What steps has DHS taken to assess the operational effectiveness of multi-component efforts in the field?

To what extent have DHS's components demonstrated collaborative practices in field operations? What have been the results?

What operational benefits, if any, has DHS identified in co-locating operational component activities in the field to-date?

What best practices and lessons learned should DHS consider in its efforts to consolidate component field office structures in order to maximize potential operational benefits and minimize potential detrimental impacts?

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Representative Candice S. Miller (MI-10)
Chairman, Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, House Homeland Security Committee

Representative Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, House Homeland Security Committee

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (I-CT)
Chairman, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Senator Susan M. Collins (R-ME)
Ranking Member, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Source