Says Improvements Needed In Policies And Procedures, Safety May Have Been Compromised

A report released by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (OIG) indicates that there have been "deficiencies" in the management of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s national aviation maintenance activities. The report also details the steps CBP has taken to address these deficiencies.

According to the report, since 2009, the number of CBP aircraft maintained, annual flight hours, and the average age of CBP’s aircraft fleet decreased. However, during the same period, CBP’s national aviation maintenance contract costs increased. As a result of inconsistent and unreliable data, we could not reconcile maintenance labor hours to determine if they were being accurately recorded and charged to CBP by DS2 (Defense Support Services). Additionally, CBP did not have sufficient internal controls to adequately address and correct deficiencies in aircraft maintenance through its corrective action process.

From fiscal year (FY) 2010 through FY 2013, the number of CBP aircraft maintained under the contract with DS2 fell from 284 to 249, or by 13 percent; annual flight hours decreased from 93,823 to 61,320, or by 35 percent; and the average age of CBP’s aircraft also decreased. However, during the same period, CBP’s national aviation maintenance contract annual costs increased an average of 8.9 percent every year.

During the review, the OIG attempted to reconcile maintenance labor hours  DS2 charged to CBP. DS2 and CBP use two separate data systems for recording maintenance labor hours. DS2’s Deltek accounting system tracks the dollar amounts charged by contract line item number, location, and job function code. Only DS2 employees enter information into Deltek. CBP uses the Electronic Maintenance Records Keeping System (EMRKS) to track maintenance actions and related historical information.

The OIG also tried to compare EMRKS labor hour data provided by CBP Supervisory Aviation Maintenance Officers (SAMO) to labor hour data provided by the contractor, but found the data was inconsistent and did not match. This unreliable data precluded further analysis.

After OIG communicated the results of the review, CBP reported it planned to examine and recommend modifications to improve verification and tracking of maintenance labor hours.

The OIG determined in its report that CBP needs to improve its policies and procedures to address aircraft maintenance deficiencies. CBP guidance for reporting maintenance deficiencies does not specify how to review and address deficiencies or when to submit Deficiency Reports (DR) to the contractor. If CBP does not properly review, address, and report maintenance deficiencies, it increases the risk of repeat occurrences of the deficiencies, potentially affecting the safety of operations.

FMI: Full Report