April 5, 2019

Trump Administration Cancels Contract That Failed to Bring on More Border Agents

$43 MILLION already spent. Just 36 Agents recruited.

by Eric Katz, http://govexec.com

The Trump administration on Thursday canceled a key contract it issued to fulfill an early promise by the president to add thousands of new border security personnel to the federal ranks over the vendor’s inability to deliver new hires.

The announcement followed Customs and Border Protection issuing a partial stop work order on the contract last year, which itself followed reporting by Government Executive and a subsequent inspector general investigation that found Accenture Federal Services was not delivering new hires. The contract was worth up to $297 million for Accenture to hire up to 7,500 Border Patrol agents and other officers on CBP’s behalf.

As of December, the company had only helped the agency bring on 36 employees.

CBP awarded the contract after President Trump required the agency to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents through an executive order he signed shortly after taking office. Accenture was tasked with onboarding those 5,000, plus an additional 2,000 customs officers and 500 air and marine officers. Accenture largely was paid on a per-hire basis, most of which was awarded when CBP sent an offer letter to a candidate, with the remaining amount paid when the employee actually started working.

Prior to the partial stop work order in December, CBP has obligated $43 million to the contract. That included $19 million in start-up costs and nearly $24 million for potential hires. The contract’s cancellation was first reported by Axios.

More:

https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/04/trump-administration-cancels-contract-failed-bring-more-border-agents/156104/?oref=top-story