Biosurveillance: Developing a Collaboration Strategy Is Essential to Fostering Interagency Data and Resource Sharing

Citation
Government Accountability Office, Biosurveillance: Developing a Collaboration Strategy Is Essential to Fostering Interagency Data and Resource Sharing (GAO-10-171) (Dec. 18, 2009) (full-text).

Overview
The GAO found that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Biosurveillance Integration Center, was not fully equipped to carry out its mission because it lacks key resources &mdash; data and personnel &mdash; from its partner agencies, which may be at least partially attributed to collaboration challenges it has faced.

It recommended that the DHS work with its interagency partners to establish a strategy and performance measures for collaboration. As of March 2011, DHS had not finalized a collaboration strategy, but officials reported that they had been working with interagency partners to develop it.