A congressional committee is pressuring White House officials over a Homeland Security Department enterprise resource planning project that some members say could cost $1 billion.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Rep. Christopher Carney (D-Pa.), chairman of the management, investigations and oversight subcommittee, sent a letter on Sept. 16 to Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients criticizing the DHS project, known as Transformation and Systems Consolidation.

"In addition to an undefined completion date and widely variant cost estimates, DHS has yet to define TASC system requirements, migration strategy or overall plan," they said in the letter. "In essence, at this juncture, DHS cannot definitively determine whether a completed TASC will meet the Department's needs."

TASC is one of the 20 financial modernization projects which OMB has asked agencies to halt, pending an OMB-led review. TASC is also a target of Thompson's and Carney's ire; in July, they wrote to DHS Under Secretary for Management Rafael Borras, telling him they support the "concept" of TASC, but "serious reservations regarding the projected $450 million cost of the TASC contract remains."

In a response, Borras wrote back that "TASC was specifically designed to segment work into small, manageable projects with individual task orders targeted for clear and concise deliverables," which aligns with OMB's current information technology management oversight philosophy.  

Because TASC is consistent with OMB guidance, DHS is not considering alternative plans, Borras said. "DHS currently plans to award the TASC contract after successfully completing OMB's review," he added.

In a Sept. 27 statement, DHS Spokesman Larry Orluskie re-affirmed DHS plans, stating that DHS is "working closely with OMB and progressing forward as we continue the planned TASC contract award."

For more:
- download Rep. Thompson and Rep. Carney's Sept. 16 letter to OMB
- download DHS's July 30 letter to Thompson (the same letter was sent to Carney)
- download Thompson's and Carney's July 16 letter to DHS

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