Newsday June 02, 2004
Accenture's big deal
Consulting firm gets $10B contract to track visitors but critics take aim at its offshore HQ and privacy concerns
By James Bernstein
In an effort to make U.S. borders safe from terrorists, the federal Homeland Security Department yesterday awarded a contract to an information technology consulting company to create "virtual borders" that will identify potential enemies trying to enter the country.
The contract for Homeland Security's border protection program, called U.S.-Visit and worth up to $10 billion over the next decade, was awarded to the U.S. subsidiary of Accenture Ltd., which is headquartered in Bermuda.
But details surrounding Accenture's foreign headquarters, its partners in the deal and issues of privacy came under criticism immediately.
Critics questioned how Homeland Security could award a major contract to an offshore company. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said offshore companies "skim off government contracts ... and dodge federal taxes."
Homeland Security officials defended their decision, saying Accenture has about 25,000 employees in the United States and only about a dozen in Bermuda. Accenture officials said the company pays taxes on revenues it receives in the U.S. Accenture competed against two other bidders, Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., and Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo, Calif.
Eric Stange, Accenture's managing partner for defense and homeland security, told Newsday that the company - along with partners Raytheon Corp., Titan Corp., and SRA International-will create "virtual borders" intended to identify potential terrorists entering the U.S. at about 300 sites along the Canadian and Mexican borders.
Titan Corp. of San Diego was among the companies identified by a U.S. military investigation as providing interrogators and interpreters at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where inmates were allegedly abused. Gene Ray, Titan's chairman, said last month that the company was dismayed "over the horrific events" and that it is cooperating with investigators.
Titan is also under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly paying bribes to obtain foreign contracts in Benin and Saudi Arabia.
Beginning this fall, Accenture's system is to capture biometric data, such as fingerprints, photographs and voice prints, at 211 visa-issuing facilities overseas. Customs and border inspectors will have instant access to intelligence databases and watch lists.
Visitors can also be tracked once they are in the United States, Stange said. Any change in status - such as marriage or job change - is reported to the U.S. immigration officials, and will now be sent to U.S.-Visit's tracking system.
A U.S.-Visit system began operating at 115 airports and 14 seaports in the U.S. in January.
But critics raised questions about protecting peoples' privacy. They also said they had doubts as to whether the system would be able to track the approximately 358 million U.S. and non-U.S. citizens who annually enter the country through the nation's borders.
"My general concern is that I've seen an awful lot of things that have been just annoying, but not effective," said John Pike, an analyst at GlobalSecurity.org in suburban Washington, D.C. "That is the worst of all possible worlds."
Charlie Mitchell, legislative council for the American Civil Liberties Union, said there were "a whole lot of questions" about privacy.
"What are they going to do with the data and how long are they going to keep it?" Mitchell said. "What happens if the computer system makes a mistake" and identifies someone as a potential terrorist. "How is that rectified?"
© Copyright 2004, Newsday, Inc.
