IG: TSA's internal "Office of Inspection" kinda sucks

OIG 13-123 September 2013

DHS OIG took a look at TSA's internal inspection office and seemed fairly unimpressed with what they found. In fact they produced a 1-page executive summary that contains a section titled "Why This Matters" suggesting the IG believes this particular TSA OOI fustercluck is somewhat noteworthy compared to other more garden variety Federal agency fusterclucks.

The Office of Inspection (OOI) in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducts inspections, audits, internal reviews, and covert testing to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of TSA's operations and to identify vulnerabilities in TSA security systems. Additionally, OOI carries out internal investigations of the TSA workforce to ensure its integrity.
Approximately 60 percent of OOI's staff is composed of criminal investigators, who receive an extra 25 percent in pay, known as Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP). As such, these positions are a more expensive resource than noncriminal investigator positions.

On to the findings:

OOI did not use its staff and resources efficiently

to conduct its work cost-effectively. OOI did not ensure that its criminal investigators performed criminal investigations the majority of the time, as required by Federal regulations. When performing duties unrelated to criminal investigations, criminal investigators were paid more than other OOI employees who could have performed the same work at a lower cost. In addition, OOI did not properly plan its work and resource needs, track project costs, or measure performance effectively. Quality controls were not sufficient to ensure that OOI's work complied with accepted standards; staff members were properly trained; and work was adequately reviewed. Finally, OOI could not ensure that other TSA components took action on its recommendations to improve operations.
As a result, TSA was not as effective as it could have been, and management may not be able to rely on the office's work. Also, OOI may not have fully accomplished its mission to identify and address transportation security vulnerabilities. With the appropriate classification and training of staff and better use of resources, OOI could improve the quality of its work. In addition, OOI could realize future cost savings of as much as $17.5 million over 5 years by reducing the amount it spends on LEAP if all of its 124 criminal investigators were reclassified to noncriminal investigator positions. However, the appropriate number of reclassifications and more precise cost savings cannot be determined without an objective and comprehensive review of position classifications
For the full The full 52 page IG report click here.