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Open Recommendations (97 total)

Coast Guard: Additional Actions Needed to Guide Training and Assessment Efforts

GAO-25-107025
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of FORCECOM assesses whether FORCECOM's Level 3 evaluation guidelines are reasonable for training centers and considers whether new guidelines could provide more useful data. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DHS concurred and described its plans to address this recommendation. For example, FORCECOM plans to revise its standard operating procedures for conducting training evaluations, including Level 3 evaluations, to ensure that its guidelines address leading practices. FORCECOM also plans to draft a training policy to provide greater accountability over course evaluations. DHS stated that FORCECOM plans to complete these efforts by January 2026. We will monitor DHS's efforts to address this recommendation and provide updates as needed.
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of FORCECOM develops a written project plan for developing and implementing the assessment program's dashboard, including key items such as project goals, work activities, timeline for completion, and interim milestones. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DHS concurred and described its plans to address this recommendation. For example, FORCECOM plans to develop a business plan for its assessment program dashboard that will include key elements such as project goals, work activities, timeline for completion, and interim milestones by April 2025. We will monitor DHS's efforts to address this recommendation and provide updates as needed.
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of FORCECOM documents and implements an approach for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of training center data on triennial course review requirements. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DHS concurred and described its plans to address this recommendation. For example, FORCECOM plans to integrate all of the Coast Guard's training centers into its Continuous Improvement Cycle dashboard--a tool for tracking key training data--by October 2026. FORCECOM also plans to draft a training policy to document its approach to ensuring accountability for maintaining accurate and complete training data by January 2026. We will monitor DHS's efforts to address this recommendation and provide updates as needed.

Coast Guard: Complete Performance and Operational Data Would Better Clarify Arctic Resource Needs

GAO-24-106491
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Coast Guard's Arctic implementation plan includes performance measures with associated targets and time frames for the action items described in the plan in accordance with Coast Guard guidance. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The Department of Homeland Security concurred with this recommendation. It stated that the Coast Guard's Polar Coordination Office (CG-PCO) will coordinate actions to address this recommendation by incorporating milestones into the program and project execution plans associated with action items described in ASIP as they are developed. It further stated that the CG-PCO will capture the advancement of Arctic strategic objectives, which will be tracked and shared with Coast Guard leadership, as appropriate. The stated estimated completion date is November 30, 2024.
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that District 17 collects and reports complete information about resource use and mission performance in accordance with Coast Guard guidance. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Department of Homeland Security concurred with this recommendation. It stated that Coast Guard District 17 has integrated the practice of reviewing the status of its Operational Assessment Reports and associated deadlines into bi-weekly leadership meetings to ensure cross-department visibility and collaboration. In addition, guidance contained in the Operation Planning Direction will be condensed and distributed to subordinate operational units on a quarterly basis. These actions will better enable the collection and reporting of complete information about resource use and mission performance in accordance with Coast Guard guidance. The stated estimated completion date is December 31, 2024.

Coast Guard: Aircraft Fleet and Aviation Workforce Assessments Needed

GAO-24-106374
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should assess and determine the aviation workforce levels it requires to meet its mission needs. (Recommendation 5)
Open
DHS concurred with this recommendation. In response to our report, DHS noted that Coast Guard will begin the process to determine the aviation workforce needed for all air stations in May 2024. We will continue monitoring Coast Guard's efforts to address this recommendation.

Coast Guard: Aircraft Fleet and Aviation Workforce Assessments Needed

GAO-24-106374
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should assess the type of helicopters the Coast Guard requires to meet its mission demands, as part of an analysis of alternatives. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DHS concurred with this recommendation. In response to our report, DHS noted that, based on a 2020 RAND study, the Coast Guard had found it should move towards greater medium range helicopter recovery capacity, as those aircraft provide favorable cost solutions and increased capability. However, as we note in our report, the RAND study also supported the Coast Guard maintaining a mix of helicopter types. Specifically, the study identified a benefit to the Coast Guard having a fleet composed primarily of MH-60T helicopters along with sufficient short-range helicopters to complete certain missions, such as drug interdiction. We maintain that Coast Guard can benefit from assessing different helicopter types to guide its acquisition approach and address capability shortfalls before the introduction of a successor helicopter. We will continue monitoring Coast Guard's efforts to address this recommendation.
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should establish procedures requiring the Coast Guard to uniformly collect and maintain air station readiness data. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DHS concurred with this recommendation. In response to our report, it described steps Coast Guard is taking to implement this recommendation, such as updating its operational reporting manual. Coast Guard anticipates completing these steps by December 31, 2024.
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should assess the number of helicopters the Coast Guard requires to meet its mission demands, as part of a fleet mix analysis. (Recommendation 4)
Open
DHS concurred with this recommendation. In response to our report, DHS noted that Coast Guard already determined that it requires a minimum of 127 helicopters. However, as noted in our report, the Coast Guard's determination is based on flight hours and did not consider, for example, how having a smaller fleet size would affect its ability to sustain surge operations. We maintain that Coast Guard can benefit from further analysis to determine the number of helicopters needed. We will continue monitoring Coast Guard's efforts to address this recommendation.
United States Coast Guard The Commandant of the Coast Guard should establish a process to regularly evaluate Coast Guard-wide air station readiness data. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DHS concurred with this recommendation. In response to our report, it stated that Coast Guard created a risk dashboard that displays air station readiness data. Given that the Coast Guard is still in the process of establishing procedures to require the uniform collection of readiness data, we will continue to monitor Coast Guard's progress addressing this recommendation.
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