Coast Guard needs at least $7 billion to address infrastructure maintenance backlog
The Government Accountability Office says the $7 billion infrastructure estimate is likely too low as hundreds of projects still lack cost estimates.
The Coast Guard’s infrastructure maintenance backlog costs have surged to at least $7 billion, rising by nearly $4.5 billion in just three years. Almost half of the service’s shore infrastructure is already beyond its service life.
These findings come from the Government Accountability Office, which first assessed the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure in 2019. The cost more than doubled after several years of deferred maintenance and inadequate planning, but the watchdog says the $7 billion backlog estimate is likely understated as hundreds of infrastructure projects still lack cost estimates, and some existing estimates have not been adjusted for inflation.
“Coast Guard estimated that it would take hundreds of years to address this backlog, and current funding levels are only adequate to address the most pressing needs, which tend to be unplanned repairs,” Heather MacLeod, the director of homeland security and justice programs at GAO, said during the House Transportation Committee hearing on Wednesday.
“This is particularly concerning, not only because of the estimated funding needed to address the backlogs, but because of other potential impacts. For example, we have identified that deferring maintenance can lead to higher costs in the long term, while also posing risks to safety, security, readiness and mission execution.”
The backlog includes a wide range of critical infrastructure issues, from deteriorating housing conditions for service members and their families to aging facilities at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey.
“I have visited numerous Coast Guard stations across the country. I’ve seen firsthand the unacceptable living and working conditions, and no service member should be asked to live with mold or asbestos, nor should they have to work with a tarp over their head,” Rep. John Larson, (D-Conn.), said during the hearing.
The watchdog said the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure backlogs are “contributing to a buildup of unaffordable acquisitions in both the near-term and long-term. This presents significant challenges to the Coast Guard’s major acquisition programs.”
Under Adm. Linda Fagan’s leadership, the service’s former commandant, the Coast Guard advocated for $20 billion in funding by 2030 — the service requested $12.3 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal 2025. President Donald Trump ousted Fagan on his second day in office.
Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, acting deputy commandant for operations, said during the hearing the service’s infrastructure is “steadily declining due to lack of maintenance resources.”
While most recommendations are yet to be addressed by the Coast Guard, the watchdog says the service first needs to provide more accurate and complete information about its infrastructure needs in budget requests and required reports to Congress.
The service could also benefit from employing models for predicting investment outcomes, evaluating trade-offs, and optimizing resource allocation among competing shore infrastructure projects. GAO said the service selected a model to analyze building investments, but Coast Guard officials said the model won’t be fully employed until 2028.
The Coast Guard is required to provide a yearly capital investment plan, a biannual report on major acquisitions and a quarterly acquisition brief to Congress, but the service hasn’t provided a capital investment plan since fiscal 2023 and hasn’t provided Congress with an acquisition brief since last year.
Allan said during the hearing the service will give Congress a quarterly acquisitions brief before April 1, and it promised to deliver a capital investment plan sixty days after the president’s budget is delivered to the hill.
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