The Homeland Security Department concedes that its virtual border fence is a failure. The $2 billion SBINet project has been halted and the department is considering whether to cancel the contract.

DHS hired Boeing to install thousands of cameras and other sensors along the Southwestern border. The first 28-mile section, built in Arizona, doesn’t work, officials said.

Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin said some pieces of the surveillance technology work, but “in the near term, wholesale integration is not a goal that is practicable.”

The Veterans Affairs Department has stopped work on two-thirds of its IT programs, Federal Computer Week reported. Most of the 188 programs, out of 280 that have been budgeted, are being re-evaluated.

VA’s chief information officer, Roger Baker, has already terminated a dozen failed IT projects. He told the newspaper, “In government, no one is willing to say, ‘Let’s stop it.’”

No one has said “stop” on the Defense Travel System. After 15 years it remains a work in progress, but DOD officials are now saying, “Wait a minute.”

DOD asked Congress for authority to simplify travel regulations, which run to 2,000 pages. At an April 27 hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on oversight and legislation, officials said no more money should be spent on the travel system until the rules are revised.

Current rules identify 76 types of trips DOD employees take, each requiring different handling.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy has increased the reimbursable executive compensation allowed on federal contracts to $693,951, an increase of about $10,000.

That is the maximum amount a company may claim as a cost on contracts after Jan. 1 of this year. It does not affect how much a company may pay its executives.

SBA intends to waive the nonmanufacturer rule for Improved Outer Tactical Vests and related accessories under Product Service Code (PSC) 8470 (Armor Personal) under NAICS code 339113 (Surgical Appliance and Supplies Manufacturing).

The agency says it knows of no small manufacturer that provides the products to the government. Comments and source information must be submitted May 6.