Lawmakers, Stakeholders Push Permanency in CBP Donation, Reimbursement Pilots
Lawmakers should permanently extend CBP’s donation and reimbursement pilots that allow private parties to fund land purchases and provide real property at U.S. ports of entry, said John Wagner, deputy assistant commissioner at CBP, alongside other stakeholders at a Nov. 4 congressional hearing. The public/private partnerships provide critical lifelines to ports and port communities as lawmakers fail to authorize enough funding to keep pace with growing trade, said those that testified before the House Homeland Security Border Subcommittee.
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U.S. ports are aging and widespread renovations are necessary, said Wagner. “Several land ports were built more than 70 years ago. Even those constructed as recently as 15 years ago require renovation to accommodate our consolidated operations technology and present day security standards,” he said. Subcommittee chief Candice Miller, R-Mich., and ranking member Filemon Vela, D-Texas, echoed that call, saying appropriations have recently fell short of adequate levels. Lawmakers and stakeholders cautioned that the partnerships should not substitute federal appropriations.
The pilots are authorized for five-year terms. Fiscal year 2013 appropriations authorized the partnerships, followed by a second authorization the following year (see 14011423). The donation program has paved the way for private parties to donate land, construction dirt, bypass roads and other utilities, said General Services Administration Deputy Commissioner Michael Gelber at the hearing.
But private parties won’t enter into long-term projects without permanency, said donor Sam Vale, president of the Starr-Camargo Bridge Company, based in Rio Grande City, Texas. “You cannot build very expensive programs if you don’t have a long term to be able to recoup the investment,” Vale said. “That’s particularly true when you’re trying to get access roads to the ports of entry. We don’t have any of those long-term type projects that have come on stream primarily because the financial institutions and the bond holders will not take a project that’s going to have a limit on them.”
Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said the donation program has caused some controversy in the House. Members are concerned that CBP will get involved in “the managing buildings business,” he said. Hurd applauded a statement from Gelber that GSA and CBP will still, under a permanent program, have to collaborate to evaluate the benefits of a donation. “As it’s currently structured no donation can proceed unless GSA and CBP together decide to accept a donation,” Gelber said.
Meanwhile, the reimbursement pilot, which authorizes private parties to reimburse CBP for boosted manpower, has provided 112,000 additional processing hours in the first 21 months of its mandate, said Wagner. CBP is still 800 employees shy of its authorized hire threshold, due mostly to applicant failures on background checks, he said.