Coast Guard Acquisitions: Lessons Learned to Inform Coast Guard and NOAA Shipbuilding Efforts

Both the Coast Guard—a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are investing significant resources to recapitalize their aging fleets of ships. Ensuring that the Coast Guard and NOAA maintain their ships and address potential capability gaps is vital for protecting national security and scientific interests. This statement by Marie A. Mak, Director, Contracting and National Security Acquisitions, summarizes lessons that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified from its prior reviews of Coast Guard and Navy acquisitions, which can be applied to the Coast Guard’s and NOAA’s shipbuilding efforts. Specifically, this testimony provides information on, among other things, (1) long-term strategic planning for acquisitions, (2) the need for a sound business case, and (3) the leveraging of the Navy’s acquisition resources and shipbuilding expertise. In its prior work, GAO reviewed Coast Guard and Navy programs and interviewed officials. For this testimony, GAO obtained publicly available information on NOAA’s ship acquisition efforts. GAO has previously recommended that the Coast Guard develop a 20-year fleet modernization plan, reflect acquisition trade-off decisions in its annual Capital Investment Plans, and address risks to establish a sound business case for its polar icebreakers acquisition. DHS concurred with these recommendations and is taking steps to implement them.

• Record URL:
  • https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694946.pdf
• Summary URL:
  • https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694947.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. Government Accountability Office

  441 G Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20548
• Authors:
  • Mak, Marie A
• Publication Date: 2018-10-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Procurement; Recommendations; Shipbuilding; Strategic planning
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; United States Coast Guard; United States Navy
• Subject Areas: Finance; Marine Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01684224
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: GAO-19-147T
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 25 2018 5:13PM