Customs and Border Protection revamps acquisition strategy.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITYBEATH

The man charged with putting Customs and Border Protection's house in order when it comes to its technology acquisition programs said simply transferring Defense Department practices over to the Department of Homeland Security doesn't always work.

Mark Borkowski in July was named CBP's first assistant commissioner for technology innovation and acquisition. Since being appointed to the position, he has installed a hierarchy of experienced acquisition personnel in the new division, including a former Marine Corps product manager, to ensure that programs are following standard practices. Also part of the lineup is a director to oversee systems engineering, a chief technology officer who came from the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology directorate, and a Border Patrol agent charged with ensuring that requirements come from the field, not from the top down.

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Industry may find it shocking that CBP is just now adopting acquisition practices that are common at the Defense Department and other DHS agencies such as the Coast Guard, he said at an Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association talk.

Putting words into the audience's mouths, he said, "Oh my gosh, they're talking about basics. They're talking about stuff that should have been there a long time ago. They're spending billions of dollars and now they're talking about requirements? They're talking about technology push and systems engineering?"

A former Air Force colonel who served in the acquisition ranks and at NASA in a similar capacity, he painted a picture of an

agency that was in disarray when he came on board as the Secure Border Initiative program manager in October 2008.

"One of the first things I set out to do was put a big map on the wall and try to figure what technologies we have on the border. You would be amazed how hard that was to do," he said.

James Riordan, executive director of the program manager office, and a former Marine Corps Systems Command product director, said, "If you look across the rest of CBP and say, 'Who's the systems engineer,' or 'where is the systems engineer?' You get a blank stare like 'What is that?'" The roles of budget analysts, logisticians, and program managers were not well recognized in the department, he added.

Yet, there is skepticism when it comes to implementing best practices that come from the Defense Department, which has a spotty record itself, Borkowski said. Former military...