Posted on 06/07/2004 11:44:30 AM PDT by NormalGuy
could be worth as much as $10 billion.
The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday it has picked Accenture as the prime contractor for US-Visit, an IT-based system that will control entry of foreigners into the country. The five-year contract, which could be lengthened to 10 years, could be worth up to $10 billion. Some people questioned whether the U.S. government would award Accenture the contract because it's incorporated in Hamilton, Bermuda. But only a handful of employees are situated there; 25,000 of Accenture's 90,000 workers are based in the United States. Accenture, with operations in 48 countries, says it maintains no corporate headquarters.
The government began to solicit bids in November, with contractors submitting them in January. The US-Visit Program Office led the source selection process, supported closely by department's border-management unit, representatives from other Homeland Security offices, as well as the State and Justice departments.
According to Homeland Security, each proposal was evaluated on four key factors: the business and technical solutions suggested to achieve the vision of US-Visit as an end-to-end management system; the management approach and proven capability to deliver a complex set of solutions; and the development and implementation strategy to deploy US-Visit entry and exit capabilities at the 50 busiest land ports of entry. Cost was also a major factor considered in the award decision.
Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security's undersecretary of border and transportation security, said in a statement announcing Accenture's selection that the award marks an important milestone in the history of homeland security. "By harnessing the power of the best minds in the private sector, we have taken a major step toward accomplishing our goals of enhancing the security of our country while increasing efficiency at our borders," he said.
Accenture will provide a range of professional services, including strategic support, design and integration activities, technical solutions, deployment activities, training, and organizational change management.
The government's vision of US-Visit is to deploy end-to-end management and sharing of data on foreign nationals covering their interactions with federal officials before they enter the United States, when they enter, while they are here, and when they exit. Hutchinson contends that this comprehensive view of border management will lead to the creation of a virtual border and will set a course for improved processes to manage and share data on foreign nationals.
Since deploying US-Visit entry capabilities at 115 airports and 14 seaports on Jan. 5, more than 4.5 million foreign nationals have been processed without adversely impacting wait times, Homeland Security says, adding that since its launch, US-Visit has helped the government intercept more than 500 people with prior or suspected criminal or immigration violations. These include convicted rapists, drug traffickers, individuals convicted of credit-card fraud, a convicted armed robber, and numerous immigration violators and people using falsified documents.
US-Visit requires that most foreigners traveling to the United States on a visa and arriving at an airport or seaport have their two index fingers scanned and digital photographs taken to verify their identities at the port of entry. By Sept. 30, this process will also apply to visitors traveling under the visa waiver program at all airports and seaports of entry.
Just because it's an immigration computer system, is there any reason why the taxpayer's should get the most value for their hard earned dollars?
Accenture is an American company. They locate their corporate headquarters in Bermuda to lessen their tax burden. If they are HQ'd in America, they get to pay taxes on ALL of their income worldwide--we are the only country stupid enough to do this, BTW; companies with a headquarters maildrop outside the US only get taxed on their US income.
Then they are NOT an American corporation.
This flushes out those who are consistent on the outsourcing-immigration issue from those who are selective in which immigration and which outsourcing they oppose.
Go whine at Congress. They're the ones who set up a tax code that punishes companies whose primary operations are in the US, but export a significant amount of goods and services overseas.
Not as long as the borders are open.
Tedium...it's already been discussed ad nausiem. It is an American company who let up an office in the caribbean to avoid moronic taxes. Big deal.
Grow up.
Outsourcing: No need to be a Pollyanna or Chicken Little When it comes to Outsourcing, there seems to be only two reactions : Polyanna or Chicken Little. Do not let the idiotic hype cycles make you one or the other.
Good commentary by 5/14/04 By Nari Kannan
I say again, "Then they are NOT an American corporation". Whine all you like, but they are not an American corporation.
So having a maildrop in Bermuda means that the company isn't American, despite the vast majority of its operations (and ALL of its actual headquarters operations) being conducted in America?
American corporations are headquartered in the US and pay US taxes. This corporation is not an American Corporation.
Using this system, "visitors" will automatically be tracked - this will make it easier for the government to send them info on the welfare & healthcare benefits they are eligible for. When their visas expire, they will automatically be sent a months worth of food stamps, coupons for airline tickets to be used by their relatives to come to America (family re-unification), and a pregnancy test kit to detect any budding new U.S. citizens.
Accenture pays US taxes on its US operations (which are most of Accenture's operations).
FYI, corporations don't HAVE citizenship.
Exactly. They're eager to belly up to the trough and eat their fill of our tax money, but they won't pay a penny for the U.S. Armed Services or for the governmental infrastructure that is part of the weave of the marketplace they wish to exploit.
That's right. They're too busy making money to contribute a dime to the medical care of our wounded veterans coming home from Iraq. And some dare call this an American Company? The words should be as bitter ashes in their mouths!
They're too good to pay any U.S. taxes - but they're happy to take a huge portion of the taxes you and I pay. Sadly, the deluded among us continue to cheer on behavior that would make Al Capone blush with shame.
If you want on or off my offshoring ping list, please FReepmail me!
As an insider observing another contractor bidding for that contract, I can assure you that no matter who landed it, it would still have ended up being a disaster. The agency has no idea what they want the system to do, and much less an idea as to how to leverage the technology in the most efficient manner... This program was destined to be a boondoggle from day one.
And they would never, ever assign expenses from their headquarters operations such that tax liabilities and the US-based units would be minimized, right?
Can you say in Enron?
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