Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 505. I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. McSally) for her work on this bill. Over the past several years, the Government Accountability Office has examined various Department of Homeland Security programs and concluded that the Department has not followed standard best practices for acquisitions management. Though DHS has taken steps to improve its performance, there remains specific deficiencies in how it carries out major acquisitions. When a DHS acquisition program falls short in terms of effectiveness or efficiency, this not only risks undermining that program, but also risks wasting the limited homeland security dollars that are available to us. We owe it to the American public not to repeat our mistakes. This bill is intended to strengthen accountability for the acquisition and use of border security technology by the Department of Homeland Security. This bill would require all major acquisitions for border security technology to have written documentation of costs, schedule, and performance thresholds and demonstrate that the program is meeting these thresholds. The bill also requires coordination and submission to Congress of a plan for testing and evaluation, as well as the use of independent verification and validation of resources for border security technology.…”