[Senate Report 114-247]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      Calendar No. 454 
114th Congress    }                                    {        Report
                                 SENATE 
 2d Session       }                                    {       114-247 
_______________________________________________________________________



                     DHS IT DUPLICATION REDUCTION

                              ACT OF 2015

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 1620

           TO REDUCE DUPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT
      THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                 April 28, 2016.--Ordered to be printed
                 
                                   ______
 
                          U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
 
59-010                         WASHINGTON : 2016 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona                 THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio                    CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
RAND PAUL, Kentucky                  JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma             TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming             HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire          CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
JONI ERNST, Iowa                     GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
BEN SASSE, Nebraska

                  Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
                Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
             David S. Luckey, Director of Homeland Security
       William H.W. McKenna, Chief Counsel for Homeland Security
              Gabrielle A. Batkin, Minority Staff Director
           John P. Kilvington, Minority Deputy Staff Director
               Mary Beth Schultz, Minority Chief Counsel
      Matthew R. Grote, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                     
                     
                     
                     
                     
                     
                     
                     
   
                                                      Calendar No. 454 
114th Congress    }                                    {        Report
                                 SENATE 
 2d Session       }                                    {       114-247 

======================================================================



 
                DHS IT DUPLICATION REDUCTION ACT OF 2015

                                _______
                                

                 April 28, 2016.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1620]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1620), to reduce 
duplication of information technology at the Department of 
Homeland Security, and for other purposes, having considered 
the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommends that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............4

                         I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    The purpose of S.1620, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act 
of 2015, is to identify duplicative information technology at 
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or ``the Department'') 
and require the Department to identify a strategy for reducing 
identified duplication. This bill requires the Chief 
Information Officer (CIO) of DHS to submit a report within 90 
days of enactment to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Homeland 
Security detailing the number of information systems at DHS, an 
assessment of the systems exhibiting duplication or 
fragmentation, a strategy for reducing duplicative systems, and 
a methodology for determining which systems should be 
eliminated when duplication or fragmentation are present.

              II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    Congress established DHS in 2002 with the enactment of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002.\1\ The Department began largely 
as a conglomeration of 22 separate government agencies, each 
with its own existing capital, infrastructure, policies and 
procedures.\2\ Included within those agencies were also 
multiple separate information technology (IT) systems. Thus the 
combination of these agencies through the creation of DHS was 
both an opportunity and a challenge within the context of IT 
systems--an opportunity to achieve cost savings through 
unifying common IT needs Department-wide, and a challenge in 
phasing out institutionalized legacy IT systems at the 
agencies, many of which long predate the Department's 
creation.\3\ In many ways, the creation of DHS made it a 
microcosm of the broader Executive Branch from the perspective 
of shared IT services and reducing duplicative IT systems.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-296.
    \2\See, e.g., President's Budget Request FY 2004, Department of 
Homeland Security.
    \3\See, e.g., id. at 144.
    \4\See, e.g., id. at 159.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Department has made some efforts to consolidate 
duplicative IT systems and prevent duplication in IT systems 
among its agencies, but it has not been wholly successful.\5\ 
First launched in 2012, the Office of Management and Budget's 
(OMB) PortfolioStat program has the specific goal of 
``eliminating duplication and achieving savings through 
specific actions and time frames.''\6\ In 2015, the Government 
Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the second iteration of 
the PortfolioStat initiative and found DHS had significantly 
overestimated its projected savings from reducing IT 
duplication between 2013 and 2015.\7\ DHS was one of 26 
agencies that GAO reviewed and one of the two at which GAO 
identified the largest discrepancies between initially 
projected savings and revised projected savings.\8\ According 
to the report, of the $1.4 billion DHS planned to save through 
implementing the PortfolioStat program, DHS ultimately reduced 
its projections to $446.67 million, a 67 percent and nearly $1 
billion reduction in savings.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\E.g., U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., Office of Inspector General, 
OIG-12-82, DHS Information Technology Management Has Improved, But 
Challenges Remain (2012).
    \6\U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-15-296, Information 
Technology: Additional OMB and Agency Actions Needed To Ensure 
Portfolio Savings Are Realized and Effectively Tracked 1 (2015).
    \7\Id.
    \8\Id. at 9. The Other agency was the Department of Defense. Id.
    \9\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Secretary of Homeland Security and DHS CIO must ensure 
the Department consolidates IT systems where practical, and 
resists pressure from components to permit exceptions to policy 
or individual systems where a centralized system would be 
sufficient. To provide Congress, the Department, and the public 
with a Department-wide picture of duplication of IT at the 
Department and to ensure that DHS reduces unnecessary 
duplication in IT, this bill would require the CIO to report 
within 90 days of enactment on duplication of IT at DHS and 
provide a strategy for reducing duplication that would be 
provided directly to Congress.

                        III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    On March 25, 2015, Representative Will Hurd introduced H.R. 
1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015. The act 
passed the House as amended by voice vote on June 23, 2015. The 
measure was received in the Senate and referred to the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. On 
June 18, 2015, Chairman Ron Johnson introduced the Senate 
companion to the bill, S. 1620, with minor technical changes.
    The Committee considered S. 1620 at a business meeting on 
June 24, 2015. At the meeting, the Committee ordered the bill 
reported favorably by voice vote. Senators present for the vote 
were: Johnson, McCain, Lankford, Ayotte, Ernst, Sasse, Carper, 
Tester, Baldwin, and Heitkamp.

        IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Sec. 1. Short title

    This section provides the bill's short title, the ``DHS IT 
Duplication Reduction Act of 2015.''

Sec. 2. DHS Information technology duplication reduction

    Subsection (a) requires the CIO of DHS to submit a report 
to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 
Committee and the House Committee on Homeland Security within 
90 days of enactment that includes: (1) the number of IT 
systems at DHS; (2) an assessment of the number of such systems 
exhibiting duplication or fragmentation; (3) a strategy for 
reducing duplicative systems; and (4) a methodology for 
determining which systems should be eliminated when duplication 
or fragmentation are present.
    Subsection (b) defines the terms ``duplication or 
fragmentation'' and ``information technology.''
    Subsection (c) provides that this section shall be carried 
out using existing appropriations and that no new funds are 
authorized by this bill.

                   V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

                                                      July 6, 2015.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. 
        Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1620, the DHS IT 
Duplication Reduction Act of 2015.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark 
Grabowicz.
            Sincerely,
                                                        Keith Hall.
    Enclosure.

S. 1620--DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015

    S. 1620 would require the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS), within 90 days of the bill's enactment, to prepare a 
report for the Congress on duplicative information technology 
systems in the department. DHS is currently carrying out 
activities similar to those required by the bill. Thus, CBO 
estimates that implementing S. 1620 would not significantly 
affect spending by the department. Enacting S. 1620 would not 
affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go 
procedures do not apply.
    S. 1620 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    On June 3, 2015, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 
1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015, as ordered 
reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security on May 20, 
2015. The two bills are identical and CBO's estimates of 
budgetary effects are the same.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz. 
The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

       VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE ACT, AS REPORTED

    Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any 
provision of current law, it would make no changes in existing 
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12 
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.

                                  [all]