(The Center Square) – After a government report in 2019 cataloging needed repairs and improvements to the U.S. Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure, things have mostly continued to get worse, according to a fresh assessment.
The Government Accountability Office reported in 2019 that “Coast Guard data showed about 45% of the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure was beyond its expected service life and the Coast Guard faced infrastructure project backlogs of at least $2.6 billion.” Presidents’ budget requests have repeatedly fallen short of the funding the Coast Guard has said it needs to sustain its shore infrastructure, but the service has also failed to meet the office’s best practice recommendations since 2019. The backlog has grown to approximately 49% and roughly $7 billion.
The Coast Guard has “met or partially met” five of six of GAO’s recommendations from 2019.
“Fully addressing all six of our 2019 recommendations could help the Coast Guard more efficiently manage existing resources, including reducing costs and positioning the Coast Guard and Congress with better information to address shore infrastructure challenges,” the GAO wrote in its most recent report, published Wednesday.
The Coast Guard has “developed a plan to standardize facility condition assessments” and “established guidance to document inputs, deliberations, and project prioritization decisions for shore infrastructure maintenance projects.” It’s in the process of developing goals and baselines for “tracking the effectiveness” of its maintenance and repairs, and it’s also working to implement a software that helps optimize facility investment decisions. The Coast Guard has also taken steps to “work with Congress to routinely align shore infrastructure portfolio with mission needs,” but it has not begun to include “supporting details about competing priorities and trade-offs in congressional budget requests and related reports.”
“Delays in fully addressing our recommendations will likely have cost implications,” GAO warned.
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The Coast Guard’s funding targets for supporting its shore infrastructure have ranged from approximately $439 million to $709 million from fiscal years 2019-2025.
“Actual funding levels for Coast Guard shore infrastructure varied from approximately $255 million in FY 2019 to $415 million in FY 2024,” according to the report.