Connecticut democrat Rosa DeLauro had been attempting to get Accenture ousted from the project due to it being incorporated overseas in Bermuda. However, both the first and second amendments put forward, which attempted to block outsourcing to overseas companies, were thrown out during a debate in the House of Representatives.
DeLauro was quoted previously in the Financial Times, stating: It is outrageous and wrong to reward these companies for abandoning our country, particularly from the very department charged with safeguarding our homeland security as we work to pay for the ongoing war on terrorism.
However, Accenture fought back saying: It is important to remember that the global Accenture organization has never been a US-based or US-operated organization and has never operated under a US parent corporation. Despite what some of our critics say, Accenture did not undertake what is called a US corporate inversion.
Accenture won the deal to develop the US Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology program against competition from Computer Sciences Corp and Lockheed Martin Corp. The deal, which is for five years, and five option years, will involve Accenture creating the Smart Border alliance with partners Raytheon, Titan, and SRA International. The four companies will work together to develop and install new entry/exit systems that will be rolled out across 400 air, land and sea ports in the US.
However, Accenture is not completely out of the woods however. The second part of the initial amendment is still being debated, and this threatens to erase a clause in the initial Homeland Security Act of 2002, that made it possible for companies based outside the US to compete for and win DHS contracts. If this is passed, it would make it impossible for Accenture and other IT services firms based outside the US to challenge incumbent US companies like CSC, EDS and Lockheed Martin for such prized government contracts.
