[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 51 (Friday, March 23, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E616-E617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF FEDERAL HOMELAND SECURITY PROCUREMENT LEGISLATION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 22, 2007

  Mr. CARNEY. Madam Speaker, as chairman of the Homeland Security 
Committee's Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight, I 
am very concerned with the potential for waste, fraud and abuse at the 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
  As we have heard all too often in recent months, the Department is 
spending increasing amounts of its resources on outside contractors to 
help fulfill its job of preparing, preventing and mitigating any future 
large-scale catastrophic events on our soil.
  Unfortunately, the contracts are numerous, as are the dollars being 
doled out. Congress

[[Page E617]]

has discovered that, government-wide, Federal agencies have had help 
developing requests for proposals (RFPs) for any number of goods and 
services from industry insiders, all in the interest of expediency.
  While it is certainly reasonable for the government to consult with 
industry insiders during RFP development, it is deplorable for these 
industry insiders to make recommendations to the government that would 
result in only one selectable proposal: that from the company of the 
insider who assisted with the initial RFP.
  Such action is wrong, yet it has happened on numerous occasions.
  For example, starting in late 2003, DHS issued an RFP for 
``eMerge2,'' an effort to finish the consolidation of all of the 
financial systems of the DHS components into one new system. The 
eMerge2 RFP was drafted in large part by a single contractor. When the 
contract was awarded, it was split between two contractors, one of them 
being the company that helped write the RFP. Long story short: eMerge2 
was a failure.
  The questions raised by eMerge2 run deeper than ``just'' the federal 
dollars that were doled out without seeing any return. Indeed, the 
eMerge2 fiasco raised serious questions about whether more needs to be 
done, both by DHS and by contractors, to ensure that the ``firewalls'' 
contractors are using are actually working. This legislation answers 
some of those questions.
  Similarly, when the Coast Guard (USCG) realized that the majority of 
its marine and aviation fleet was in desperate need of upgrade, it 
relied upon only two contractors to design the entire Deepwater 
project, without nearly enough consultation from USCG personnel. Now 
the Coast Guard has had to pull ships from service and is borrowing 
boats from the Navy. Our waters are less secure now than before 9/11 
because of the fiasco that is Deepwater.
  Surely, there have been examples of unnecessary government largesse 
resulting in waste. That said, while private industry as a contracting 
partner can save taxpayer dollars, I am skeptical that a business that 
helped to write an RFP and was the only business qualified to receive 
it really has the taxpayers' best interests in mind. In fact, this type 
of malfeasance is criminal, in my opinion.

  This legislation seeks to eliminate the potential for future abuses 
of Federal homeland security procurement dollars. It would require that 
any contract entered into after May 1, 2007 is not awarded to companies 
who played a role in constructing the RFP for said contract. If the 
company is awarded the contract, the Secretary of Homeland Security 
must certify to Congress that the contract was issued through a 
competitive process and that DHS took all appropriate measures to 
ensure that during the RFP design stage, any potential contractor could 
not influence the RFP to favor itself. Additionally, it would allow for 
contractors who had input in the process to be hired as subcontractors 
if they had input designing the RFP but were not ultimately selected as 
the lead contractor.
  I would encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this 
necessary legislation, which has the potential to save the Federal 
Government hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more annually. The 
financial resources of the Federal Government are limited. It should 
not be as easy as it currently is to game the system and bilk tens of 
millions of dollars at a time out the Department of Homeland Security's 
budget.

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