Coast Guard: Deepwater Requirements, Quantities, and Cost Require Revalidation to Reflect Knowledge Gained
Highlights
The Deepwater Program includes efforts to build or modernize ships and aircraft and to procure other capabilities. After a series of project failures, the Coast Guard announced in 2007 that it was taking over the systems integrator role from Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS). At the same time, a $24.2 billion program baseline was established which included schedule and performance parameters at an overall system level. GAO has previously reported on the Coast Guard's progress in establishing individual baselines for Deepwater assets and has made a number of recommendations, which have largely been addressed. In response to the conference report accompanying the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act, 2010, GAO assessed (1) DHS and Coast Guard acquisition policies and approach to managing the program, (2) whether the program is meeting the 2007 baseline, and (3) Coast Guard efforts to manage and build its acquisition workforce. GAO reviewed Coast Guard and DHS policies and program documents, and interviewed officials.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Coast Guard | To capitalize on the increase in knowledge gained by creating new baselines for Deepwater assets, and to better manage acquisitions of further assets and capabilities, the Commandant of the Coast Guard should complete, and present to Congress, a comprehensive review of the Deepwater Program that clarifies the overall cost, schedule, quantities, and mix of assets that are needed to meet mission needs and what trade-offs need to be made considering fiscal constraints, given that the currently approved Deepwater baseline is no longer feasible. |
Closed – Not Implemented
In providing comments on this report, the agency concurred with this recommendation but has not yet taken actions necessary to implement it. Since this report, DHS and the Coast Guard have each completed studies examining the mix of assets that composed the Deepwater Program. However, to date, the Coast Guard has not yet provided the Congress with a comprehensive review that clarifies the program's cost, schedule, quantities, and mix of assets or takes into account the Coast Guard's needs and available resources and makes recommendations about what trade-offs may be necessary. Given that the Deepwater program, as identified in 2010, has been discontinued and GAO has subsequently made more specific recommendations to the Coast Guard in 2014 and 2018 with regard to providing the Congress with a comprehensive review of the its long-term plan to communicate the composition and affordability of the major acquisition portfolio including the impact of budgetary trade-offs, this recommendation has been overcome by events and will be closed as not implemented.
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