CBP - TECS Modernization
Investment ID: 024-000005072
Overview
Program Title
CBP - TECS Modernization
Description
TECS provides CBP Officers & Agents, Partner Government Agencies (PGA), and DHS partner users with timely, accurate, and relevant data that allows rapid entry of legitimate travelers, while decreasing the probability of granting access to terrorists, smugglers, or others deemed inadmissible. The TECS Modernization program modernized the legacy TECS infrastructure, databases, and user interfaces that sustain today s law enforcement and traveler screening. TECS supports the DHS and CBP missions by protecting the nation from the entry of dangerous or illegal people, Securing & Expediting Trade and Travel, ensuring efficient flow of lawful people crossing US borders and enabling effective decision making through rigorous screening of travelers to provide improved intelligence and information sharing.
Type of Program
Major IT Investments
Multi-Agency Category
Not Applicable
Associated Websites
https://www.cbp.gov/document/guidance/deferred-inspection-siteshttp://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/operations/preclearance http://www.cbp.gov/contact/portshttps://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2016-Mar/i-94-automation-fact-sheet.pdfhttps://www.cbp.gov/travel
Investment Detail
TECS Modernization's return on investment is 15%. This number was based on risk adjusted program costs of $538.591M and adjusted net benefits of $81.588M over the life of the program. The adjusted net benefits is the net present value and the difference between the total discounted baseline of $620.179 M and the adjusted program costs. The benefits are in the form of reduced operational maintenance costs over the initial 14 years of the program's life cycle. The reduction in maintenance costs will be especially evident in the final years and are expected to greatly exceed current costs as the system became increasingly difficult or near impossible to maintain. It reduces the possibility of missing potential terrorist who should have been intercepted by data integration and search capabilities. It improves access to person-centric information, allow person data to be re-queried upon inspection at Air/Sea Primary, and it improves the effectiveness and efficiency of secondary inspections by sending data from the primary to the secondary application upon referral, ensuring integration from primary to secondary. Modernized functionalities will continue to improve the reliability and accuracy of primary responses. This includes modernized report modules that give managers visibility into field activities, an advanced traveler information user interface that enables the Passenger Analysis Unit to access air, vessel, rail, and bus manifest information via a single user interface, providing visibility to the manifest data, watch list status, and results of queries. Additionally, an enhanced message processing capability reduces the processing time by providing the manifest information to its users upon receipt by CBP. TECS has 7 KPPs measuring the efficiency of TECS primary and secondary functionalities. TECS has been meeting (and sometimes exceeding) the targets since TECS has been modernized. For example, KPP 43459 - Maintain Time to complete NCIC queries for wanted persons and vehicles using biographic data, not biometric data in less than 2 seconds. In the last 12 months, on average, TECS has completed a NCIC queries less than 2 seconds 99.778% of the time. The reliability and effectiveness of the TECS program enables the CBP officers to prevent terrorists from entering the United States and to facilitate entry and exit for law-abiding travelers much more efficiently.