The Department of Homeland Security is having major problems getting its arms around managing more than $6 billion in IT investments a year, according to the General Accountability Office.

In testimony on Capitol Hill Monday, GAO official Randolph Hite said DHS has not done a good job strengthening its IT workforce and in getting effective IT acquisition management policies in place. DHS officials have not always followed the rules, either, to create a lean, mean operation, he said.

"Because of these weaknesses, major IT programs aimed at delivering important mission capabilities have not lived up to expectations," Hite told the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee's Government Management Subcommittee.

As a result, DHS has landed on the GAO's high-risk list every year since it was created by the Bush administration in 2003. DHS has implemented some of GAO's advice to toughen its backbone, but not others, Hite said. "Without proper management controls in place, it is unlikely that investment oversight decisions will be made consistently and will best support mission needs," he testified.

DHS officials said they've created a new division--Acquisition Program Management Division in the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer--to deal with procurement-related management issues.

But if DHS is not working aggressively on fixing these problems, who is? And will that mean a major gap at a time when security remains the highest priority in government?

For more on the GAO report in DHS:
- check out this Federal Computer Week article

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DHS building cyber workforce
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