Coast Guard : actions needed to mitigate deepwater project risks

Details

• Creators:
  Hecker, JayEtta
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Oceans
  • Risk assessment
  • Fleet management
  • Ships
  • Aircraft
  • Modernization
  • Costs
  • Deepwater Capability Replacement Project
  • U.S. Coast Guard
• Publication/ Report Number:
  GAO-01-659T
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. General Accounting Office
• Abstract:
  The Deepwater Capability Replacement Project was initiated by the Coast Guard to replace and modernize its aging fleet of over 90 cutters and 200 aircraft used beyond 50 miles from shore. This project, the largest acquisition ever attempted by the Coast Guard, will likely cost over $10 billion or more and will not be completed for 2 to 3 decades. Already, the Coast Guard has spent about $116 million on the project?s design, and this year is asking for $338 million to begin the acquisition phase. The Congress and the Coast Guard are now at a major crossroads with the Deepwater Project, in that the planning is essentially complete, and the Congress is now being asked to commit to a multibillion dollar project that will define the way the Coast Guard performs many of its missions for decades to come. The acquisition strategy the Coast Guard has chosen for the Deepwater Project is unique and untried for a project of this magnitude. It carries many risks that could potentially cause significant schedule delays and cost increases. Since 1998, we have reviewed numerous aspects of this project at the request of this Subcommittee and others. Most recently, we evaluated the major risks ; associated with the project, and our testimony today is based on a report released earlier this week. We will discuss risks the project faces in four major areas: (1) planning the project around annual funding levels far above what the administration has told the Coast Guard it can expect to receive, (2) keeping costs under control in the contract?s later years, (3) ensuring that procedures and personnel are in place for managing and overseeing the contractor once the contract is awarded, and (4) minimizing potential problems with developing ; unproven technology.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/33891/dot_33891_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 163.00 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:58cbbac01df9418c2d5bcde75f4c595a309179c3258552974c22d5729d40c65b