CBP Working to Improve Bonded Facility Oversight, Says DHS Inspector General

CBP is working to install a revised process to better manage the privately owned and operated bonded facilities, said the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General in its report on "Major Management Challenges Facing the Department of Homeland Security." The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) pointed to the lax oversight of privately owned bonded facilities as a serious security flaw in a report earlier this year.

(The OIG previously found CBP didn't have effective management controls to ensure that bonded facility employees don't pose a security risk at these facilities and neither issued national requirements for background checks on employees of bonded facilities nor ensured that port directors had management controls over background checks at these facilities. See ITT's Online Archives 12020205 for summary of the OIG report on problems with CBP's management of the bonded facilities and staff.)

According to the new OIG report, "CBP has indicated it continues to develop a streamlined and cost-effective process to be used by port offices when conducting background vetting of bonded facility applicants, officers and principals." That "process will add significant oversight, tracking and reporting capabilities to the background vetting process and will allow CBP to determine the criminal history of any current or prospective bonded facility applicant," said the OIG.