The Contracting Education Academy

Contracting Academy Logo
  • Home
  • Training & Education
  • Services
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Archives for ICE

March 5, 2019 By AMK

Should ICE use GSA Schedules for agile development — or go its own way?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials say the agency has been doing well adopting agile development practices and wants to keep that going once its current suite of contracts expire.

The big question: Should ICE follow Homeland Security Department headquarters in looking to pre-established contracts through the General Services Administration or build its own vehicle?

ICE has been contracting for its agile development needs with vendors off of Homeland Security’s Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading-Edge Solutions, or EAGLE II. When that vehicle expires in 2020, ICE will need a new pool of vendors.

In December, DHS Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa announced the third iteration of EAGLE, dubbed EAGLE Next Gen, will be more of a strategy than a contract. Correa told Homeland Security components once EAGLE II expires, the agency will push offices toward using six governmentwide acquisition contracts, or GWACS: GSA’s Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business, 8(a) STARS II and VETS 2, and the National Institutes of Health’s CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business.

However, Correa also left additional options open, including specific contracts for unique mission areas.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/02/should-ice-use-gsa-schedules-agile-development-or-go-its-own-way/155145/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: DHS, EAGLE, Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, GWAC, Homeland Security, ICE, RFI, small business, STARS, VETS

March 12, 2018 By AMK

ICE broke contracting rules in establishing its largest detention facility

The nation’s largest immigrant detention facility was procured improperly, according to a watchdog report, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2014 using an existing agreement with a town in Arizona as a vehicle to establish the center 900 miles away in Texas.

Since 2014, ICE has spent $438,000 annually for Eloy, Ariz., to serve solely as a middleman for a 2,400-bed detention facility in Dilley, Texas, according to the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general. The agency first contracted with the city of Eloy in 2006 to establish the Eloy Detention Center, which the city subcontracted to a company called CCA. ICE reached the agreement with Eloy through a process known as an intergovernmental service agreement, or IGSA.

After an influx of unaccompanied minors and families illegally crossed the border in 2014, ICE looked to boost its detention capacity in south Texas. The agency asked CCA and another contractor to submit proposals for a facility, but only CCA responded. The contractor negotiated directly with ICE on the provisions of the agreement. Rather than create a new contract, ICE went to the city of Eloy and requested that it modify its IGSA to enable CCA to run the South Texas Family Residential Center. The Eloy City Council gave its consent, and the agreement was altered. The provision was set to expire in October 2016, but ICE extended it until 2021.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2018/02/ice-broke-contracting-rules-establishing-its-largest-detention-facility/146278

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: DHS, Homeland Security, ICE, IG, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, intergovernmental agreement, modification, OIG, out-of-scope, scope creep, scope of work

January 15, 2013 By AMK

NASA engineer, defense contractor knowingly bought illicit software from Chinese conspirator

Chinese resident Xiang Li has pleaded guilty to copyright infringement and wire fraud charges connected to a bootleg software conspiracy that involved federal sector accomplices, U.S. authorities are expected to announce today in Wilmington, Del.

A NASA engineer and government contractor knowingly bought some of the $100 million worth of critical computer programs that Li copied from mainly American companies, according to court papers and officials.

Between April 2008 and June 2011, Li peddled ill-gotten software through the Web to colluding customers, including the U.S. public sector employees, according to court documents filed on Jan. 4. Software that retails for as much as $3 million sold for between $20 and $1,200 on the Internet shopping sites he maintained. The pirated software has uses for, among other things, defense, space exploration and explosive simulation.

See undercover videos of sting operation (courtesy Defense Video & Imagry Distribution System):

1. Avoiding Problems with Customs

2. Interacting with Customs

3. Ignoring victim company requests to cease & desist

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2013/01/nasa-engineer-defense-contractor-knowingly-bought-illicit-software-chinese-conspirator/60525/.

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: aerospace, counterfeit, economic espionage, fraud, ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, NASA, pirated products, software, telecommications

June 7, 2011 By AMK

Former federal contractor gets jail time for falsifying immigration records

A former contractor working as a records custodian at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been sentenced to five and a half years in jail for doctoring computer files to help illegal aliens obtain “legal” passports, Justice Department officials announced this week. The case reflects a larger problem the agency has experienced with personnel who have manipulated computer systems at various USCIS centers, according to internal documents and a former information technology manager. Federal investigators recently discovered that plans for an ongoing project to computerize the processing of immigration forms, which is supposed to enhance fraud detection, failed to address insider threats.

According to federal district court papers reviewed by Nextgov, Richard Abapo Quidilla, 39, of Pico Rivera, Calif., deleted the names, birth dates and other personal data of naturalized citizens in a secure database and substituted the corresponding information of illegal immigrants. He pleaded guilty in March to charges of computer fraud, procurement of citizenship unlawfully and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said.

During the time Quidilla perpetrated the crimes, between Dec. 31, 2009, and Oct. 28, 2010, he was under contract with Dell Perot Systems at the USCIS San Diego office, according to the plea agreement. The government assigned him a user identification code to access the system he admitted to tampering with. Quidilla then assigned the alien registration ID numbers of nearly 30 naturalized citizens to about 30 illegal immigrants in a way that would trick anyone searching the database using the immigrants’ personal information to believe they were naturalized.

At least two illegal immigrants used their false ID numbers and citizenship statuses to get passports, according to the plea. One of them paid Quidilla at least $1,300 for cribbing the information; the other gave him at least $4,100.

When asked whether Quidilla obtained the proper clearances and passed background checks to manage immigration records, Lori Haley, an Immigration, Customs and Enforcement spokeswoman, said she could not comment because the incident is under investigation at ICE.

Quidilla’s supervisors did not know he posed a risk, Dell officials said. “Dell had no knowledge of the former employee’s criminal behavior prior to his arrest,” company spokeswoman Caitlin Carroll said. “Dell holds its team members to the highest standards, and has a zero-tolerance policy for unethical behavior.”

This is not the first time USCIS employees have orchestrated citizenship scams — and auditors are warning that a troubled $2.4 billion project to automate immigration paperwork lacks controls to guard against future internal wrongdoers, according to a report released earlier this year by the Homeland Security Department Inspector General’s Office.

Frank Deffer, assistant IG for information technology audits, listed the initiative, called Transformation, and its susceptibility to insider threats as among the “most prevalent, high-impact areas of concern” in an assessment of steps the agency is taking to protect IT systems and data against unauthorized use by employees and contractors. “Insiders at USCIS have perpetrated fraud in the past,” his audit stated. “USCIS insiders are capable of granting legal residency or citizenship status to someone who poses a national security risk to the United States.”

Separately, a serious incident report obtained by Nextgov shows, in 2008, USCIS officials discovered that employees within the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate — hired to ensure dangerous individuals do not receive immigration rights — hooked up a nongovernment computer to an external Internet connection at a Vermont center that handles visas for victims of violence and human trafficking, allowing staff to potentially extract or import data to commit identity theft.

Spokesman Christopher Bentley said the overwhelming majority of USCIS staff perform their jobs honestly and with a deep commitment to public service.

“USCIS demands that our employees maintain the highest level of integrity and professionalism,” he said. “USCIS has zero tolerance for criminal activity and employee misconduct, and will take appropriate action to pursue illegal or unethical activity by every means at our disposal.”

– by Aliya Sternstein – NextGov – 06/02/11 – http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110602_9794.php?oref=rss?zone=NGtoday

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: citizenship, Homeland Security, ICE, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, information technology, misconduct

Popular Topics

abuse acquisition reform acquisition strategy acquisition training acquisition workforce Air Force Army AT&L bid protest budget budget cuts competition cybersecurity DAU DFARS DHS DoD DOJ FAR fraud GAO Georgia Tech GSA GSA Schedule GSA Schedules IG industrial base information technology innovation IT Justice Dept. Navy NDAA OFPP OMB OTA Pentagon procurement reform protest SBA sequestration small business spending technology VA
Contracting Academy Logo
75 Fifth Street, NW, Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30308
info@ContractingAcademy.gatech.edu
Phone: 404-894-6109
Fax: 404-410-6885

RSS Twitter

Search this Website

Copyright © 2023 · Georgia Tech - Enterprise Innovation Institute