Interagency contracting can get sticky; for an example, look no further than the Homeland Security Department. The inspector general recently chided the department for an unclear lease agreement to house its consolidated data center.

DHS is leasing space from the Navy at the Stennis Space Center, having spent $160 million since 2005 to convert a former munitions manufacturing facility into a data center. Actually, the building is on land controlled by the Army, but operated by the Navy, which pays the Army for use of the building.

In September 2008, DHS and the Navy signed a memorandum of agreement for the operation and maintenance of the renovated building, but the agreement doesn't "specify the amount of floor space that DHS will control or DHS' percentage of shared operating costs," the report states. DHS occupies about 24 percent of the building, according to auditors, but pays 81 percent of the Navy's costs that the service, in turn, pays to the Army.

DHS is paying more than its fair share, auditors charge.

"We discussed this matter with DHS officials, who agreed that DHS may be paying the U.S. Navy too much for this space," the report states.

Among the problems has been a lack of invoices from the Navy. DHS acknowledges that it has sought invoices "without success," but says that "it is not a common practice for invoices to be provided in the kinds of intra-governmental relationships such as that DHS has for the data center."

In addition, DHS notes that facility ownership is expected to transfer from the Navy to NASA in April 2010. A new agreement will incorporate more specific terms and conditions, said DHS Chief Information Officer Richard Spires in the agency's response to the audit.

For more:
- check out the DHS inspector general report (.pdf)
- this Government Computer News article

Related Articles:
Feds look to data center consolidation
DHS plans cybersecurity, data center investments
Kundra: Put the brakes on number of data centers