Coast Guard Acquisitions: Opportunities Exist to Reduce Risk for the Offshore Patrol Cutter Program

Abstract

The Coast Guard - a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - is planning to spend over $12 billion to acquire a fleet of 25 OPCs. This is the component's highest investment priority and will help ensure a variety of missions, such as drug and migrant interdiction, are carried out in offshore waters once its aging Medium Endurance Cutters are decommissioned. After Hurricane Michael - a category 5 storm - significantly disrupted the OPC shipbuilder's ability to continue work in October 2018, DHS granted up to $659 million in extraordinary contractual relief to the shipbuilder. GAO was asked to review the status of the OPC acquisition program. This report examines, among other objectives, how the Coast Guard revised the OPC program after Hurricane Michael and the extent to which the program addressed major risks - particularly in the areas of design maturity, schedule, and cost - before proceeding through key acquisition decisions both pre- and post-hurricane. GAO reviewed Coast Guard program and contract documents, analyzed Coast Guard data, and interviewed Coast Guard and DHS officials.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1149413

Entities

People

  • Marie A. Mak

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Best Practices
  • Boats
  • Business Administration
  • Congress
  • Contractors
  • Cost Analysis
  • Cost Estimates
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Engineers
  • Homeland Security
  • Law
  • Management Personnel
  • Marine Transportation
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Risk Analysis
  • Risk Management
  • Shipbuilding
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.