Industry Acts as a Force Multiplier to U.S. Customs and Borders Protection

by Stephanie Sullivan, Consultant

In FY13, the majority of DHS IT funds are projected to go to U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In fact, CPB has almost double the amount of IT funding that any other DHS component has.

At a recent DHS Industry Day, CBP Assistant Commissioner and CIO Charles Armstrong said that CBP will  focus on advanced analytics, moving information to a cloud based environment, consolidating databases, and looking to cross-domain capabilities.

CBP is currently seeking innovative and revolutionary technologies in areas such as:

• Energy solutions for remote facilities
• Solutions to read VIN numbers remotely
• Agent-friendly mobile tools for field-use
• Mobile applications to help CBP in the future
• Video surveillance

CBP believes that partnering with industry will open the door to new ideas, and help meet mission needs in a time when budget constraints will not allow the necessary headcount it may take to generate and implement a lot of these new technologies.  Bottom line: To CBP, industry acts as a force multiplier.

But with that said, CBP must make sure there is a return on investment before they allocate funds to new IT solutions.  As a result, technology manufacturers and their partners need to so make sure to explain how their products will increase efficiency and  will eliminate funds elsewhere.