Case Study - Detention & Removal Operations (DRO)

CHALLENGE

With the expansion of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Fleet Management program, the Fleet and Property Management Section of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) urgently needed thousands of new law enforcement vehicles.

That meant purchasing new vehicles and having them upfitted for law enforcement use. The project required a huge volume of different models and categories of vehicles within an accelerated time frame.

To accomplish this vital task, the DRO turned to Federal Prison Industries' Fleet Management and Vehicular Components Business Group (FPI). "We established very difficult parameters and challenges, and FPI did an exceptional job and met our goals," commented Chuck Welke, Section Chief of the Fleet and Property Management Section of DRO.

OBJECTIVE

DRO is part of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative arm of DHS. DRO is responsible for promoting public safety and national security by making certain, through the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, that illegal aliens who are deported from the U.S. depart for their home countries. DRO's original mission was the transportation and detention of illegal aliens. Since it moved to DHS, fugitive operations have also become a major role for DRO.

In the early 1990s, when it was part of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), DRO acquired new law enforcement vehicles. The agency would have them upfitted or retrofitted on an as-needed basis at the nearest district field offices.

Because the individual districts either performed their own work or contracted for it locally, the upfitting/retrofitting process was not standardized, resulting in production and delivery issues. There was also a consensus that upfitting and retrofitting would be more cost-effective if the process was standardized in centralized locations.

SOLUTION

Members of the FPI Fleet Management Business Group met with INS fleet management personnel in 1998 and, together, they developed a program where all upfitting and retrofitting of their law enforcement vehicles would be done at the Federal Correctional Institution in Bastrop, Texas. New vehicles would be shipped to Bastrop where the appropriate modifications would be done on an "immediate change notice basis."

"In a very short time following the implementation of the plan to ship all vehicles to Bastrop, we noticed a remarkable improvement in the quality of work done and the process and timing associated with getting vehicles to their designated locations," Welke commented. "Federal Prison Industries he said, created a standardized upfitting and retrofitting process, enabling our agency's vehicles to be mission-ready and shipped on time to locations around the country."

As the need for law enforcement continued to grow, other FPI locations were called into action. For example, when DRO needed upfitting and retrofitting of over 1,000 detention vans and buses, this large volume of work was completed at FPI facilities at LaTuna Texas; Three Rivers, Texas; and Terre Haute, Indiana.

In addition, Federal Prison Industries has assisted DRO in establishing upfitting/retrofitting standards for new types of law enforcement vehicles. For example, in retrofitting 15 passenger vehicles, FPI's Bastrop facility developed standards for installation of vehicle light cars and new slide-in modules.

As a result of centralization of storage requirements and centralizing purchasing of raw materials, DRO has realized significant cost savings to its fleet program." Welke said, "The staff at all these facilities has been outstanding and our fleet program has realized tremendous growth by working closely with Federal Prison Industries."

Since 1997 FPI's Fleet Management Business Group has assisted federal fleet managers by upfitting, retrofitting and remanufacturing over 15,000 vehicles. They have been the primary provider of fleet services to the Immigration & Customs Enforcement Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. FPI wants to show you how they can customize services to meet your particular mission. To find out more about all our fleet services, contact us at unicor.gov/fleet.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Fleet Solutions Group & Upfitting:
Mike Henderson, Program Manager
Mike.Henderson@usdoj.gov