GAO Finds Less Time Spent on Customs Revenue Functions Since CBP Became Part of DHS
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report to certain Congressional committees, as required by the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 (SAFE Port Act), which reviews changes in staffing and other resources devoted to customs revenue functions since the creation of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)1.
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The report examines (1) how staff resources contributing to customs revenue functions have changed since the creation of DHS, (2) how CBP conducts strategic workforce planning for customs revenue functions, and (3) whether CBP's public reporting on customs revenue ensures accountability.
(The Homeland Security Act of 2002 requires DHS to maintain at least the March 2003 level of staffing in each of nine specific customs revenue positions and their associated support positions.
The nine designated customs revenue positions are: Import Specialists, Entry Specialists, Drawback Specialists, National Import Specialists, Fines and Penalties Specialists, attorneys of the Office of Regulations and Rulings, Customs (Regulatory) Auditors, International Trade Specialists, and Financial Systems Specialists.)
GAO Finds Staffing for Customs Revenue Functions Has Declined, Etc.
The GAO's report finds the following (partial list):
Staff resources contributing to customs revenue functions have generally declined since the creation of DHS due, in part, to department priorities and recruiting and retention problems.
o The number of staff in the nine designated customs revenue positions was below the mandated level for much of the time since DHS was formed, but recent efforts increased the number of staff to the mandated levels for most of these positions.
o The number of support staff associated with customs revenue positions has declined.
o Other DHS staff contribute to customs revenue functions, but their contributions have declined. For example, the number of auditors in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewing customs issues declined significantly, and they have not performed any customs revenue related performance audits since 2003, as they have primarily focused on security.
CBP lacks a strategic workforce plan to guide its performance of customs revenue functions, but has taken some recent steps to improve its human capital management amid challenges.
o CBP has not determined the critical skills its workforce needs, nor has it developed a strategic workforce plan to inform and guide its future human capital efforts related to customs revenue functions because it has focused on filling open positions.
o CBP has recently taken some steps to improve its human capital planning such as developing resource allocation models, but gaps in its efforts remain. Additionally, challenges such as a growing workload heighten the importance of such strategic workforce planning.
(GAO notes that CBP has proposed revising the roles and responsibilities for Import Specialists and is developing congressionally mandated resource allocation models to determine ideal staffing levels for performing various agency functions; however, CBP has not performed a similar examination of roles and responsibilities for other positions, and the resource allocation models being developed will not assess the deployment of customs revenue staff across the more than 300 individual ports, where approximately 75% of customs revenue staff works.
Also, the GAO reports that the growing number of free trade agreements (FTAs) has had a pronounced effect on some customs revenue positions, including attorneys in CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings who participate in every phase of the negotiation and implementation of the FTAs. In addition, some customs revenue positions have seen an expansion of revenue-related as well as nonrevenue-related responsibilities.)
GAO Recommends Workforce Plan for Customs Revenue Functions, Etc.
In its report the GAO recommends that: (1) the CBP Commissioner develop a strategic workforce plan and work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish and report on performance measures related to customs revenue functions in its Performance and Accountability Reports, and (2) the DHS Inspector General should identify areas of high risk related to customs revenue functions.
GAO adds that it provided a copy of this report to DHS, and the DHS concurred with the GAO's recommendation to develop a strategic workforce plan and partially concurred with the recommendation to establish and report on specific customs revenue performance measures.
DHS agreed to take action to implement these recommendations by March 31, 2008 and the DHS OIG also concurred with the GAO's recommendation that it should identify areas of high risk related to customs revenue functions and agreed to take action to implement it by September 30, 2007.
1 The March 2003 move of the former U.S. Customs Service into CBP and making it part of DHS, as required by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, raised concern that insufficient attention and resources might be dedicated to customs revenue functions.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 11/06/06 news, 06110625, for BP summary of the part of the SAFE Port Act requiring this review.)
GAO Contact- Loren Yager (202) 512-4347
GAO Report entitledCustoms Revenue: Customs and Border Protection Needs to Improve Workforce Planning and Accountability (GAO-07-529, dated April 2007) available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07529.pdf?source=ra
Senate Finance Committee Press Release on GAO Report (dated 04/12/07) available at http://www.senate.gov/finance/press/Bpress/2007press/prb041207.pdf