GAO looks at what’s gone wrong with the Coast Guard’s OPC and PSC programs
Written by Nick Blenkey
Image: GAO
Two key U.S. Coast Guard shipbuilding programs — the OPC and PSC projects — are “billions of dollars over their initial cost estimates and are more than two years behind schedule,” according to The U.S. Government General Accounting Office (GAO).
The watchdog agency has just released a report [GAO-23-106948] recently given in testimony before House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. It is largely based on two previous recent GAO reports on the two programs: GAO-23-105805, on the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), and GAO-23-105949 on the Polar Security Cutter (PSC).
GAO says that its prior work shows that successful shipbuilding programs use solid, executable business cases to design and build ships. Successful programs attain critical levels of knowledge—such as mature technologies, stable designs, and realistic cost estimates—at key points in the shipbuilding process before making significant investments.
“The Coast Guard, however,” says GAO, “continues to face cost growth and schedule delays in some of its newer acquisitions because it has not obtained the right knowledge at the right time.”
In particular, the GAO says the Coast Guard faces these issues with the OPC and PSC programs:
Immature technologies. The critical technology of the first four OPCs—the davit (a crane that deploys and retrieves a cutter’s small boats)—is still not matured. Without maturing the davit, the Coast Guard risks delays and costly rework.
Unstable design. The PSC’s design is not yet stable, which risks an extended design phase and contributed to a 3-year schedule delay in the shipyard, with the start of construction of the first cutter now planned for March 2024. Starting ship construction without a stable design risks costly rework.
The delays in these programs increase the risk of potential capability gaps and of putting cost pressure on the overall Coast guard portfolio says the watchdog agency. For example, in June 2023, GAO reported that the Coast Guard projects that it will have a reduced number of cutters available for operation starting in 2024 and through 2039 due to the OPC’s delivery delays. Since 2010, the Coast Guard has invested at least $850 million to maintain the aging Medium Endurance Cutters and the icebreaker Polar Star. The Coast Guard is investing $250 million to extend the service life for six cutters and $75 million to extend the service life of the almost 50-year-old Polar Star until the delayed OPCs and PSCs, respectively, are operational.
Categories: News, Shipbuilding
