DHS components skeptical of HR system consolidation

A five-year-old effort by the Homeland Security Department to consolidate human resources systems among its many agencies has run into trouble because of agency resistance and complications caused by inter-governmental contracting, according to a DHS inspector general report.

The report, dated July 1 and released publically on July 21, finds that DHS didn't stop components from funding their own human resource systems without senior approval until January 2010. As of February, nine components--which together constitute about 86 percent of the total DHS annual budget--have not all adopted (chart) three enterprisewide HR systems.

The systems are TalentLink, a contractor owned and operated job recruitment tool; WebTA, a time and attendance web-based tool; and EmpowHR, which keeps track of job codes, positions, reassignments and promotions.

Components told auditors those systems don't do a better job than their current systems and that the DHS Human Capital Business Systems unit hasn't made a case for why switching will save them money.

For example, some agencies have balked at TalentLink because they said it doesn't consistently post job announcements onto USAJobs and is cumbersome to use. DHS HR officials told auditors TalentLink was targeted for shut down on June 26.

EmpowHR, which interfaces with a pay and personnel system utilized by DHS but owned by the Agriculture Department's National Finance Center, has been designed such that it doesn't update its own tables whenever data on the NFC mainframe computer is changed via another application. As a result, keeping data current in the pay and personnel system and EmpowHR has required double entry.

WebTA, meanwhile, has not been certified and accredited under the Federal Information Security Management Act to operate on the DHS network, the audit states. DHS cybersecurity personnel said they don't have control over the system since it's hosted on National Finance Center infrastructure, even though DHS owns the WebTA license "and is responsible for protecting the personal data of its 180,000 employees," the audit notes. For their part, National Finance Center personnel were "reluctant" to provide auditors with security information for systems that it maintains.

As for how many HR systems the DHS components possess, DHS doesn't know. While the Human Capital Business Systems unit does have a list, auditors say it is outdated and inaccurate and that components have at times ignored HCBS data calls for updates. When in October 2009 auditors asked agencies to self-identify their systems, they collectively acknowledged 48 systems. When auditors tried verifying that list, they couldn't, because the DHS office of chief information officer doesn't possess an identifier to distinguish HR systems from the rest, the report states.

For more:
- download the audit DHS OIG-10-99 (.pdf)
- see a chart on the HR system consolidation progress

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