COVID-19: The Coast Guard Has Addressed Challenges, but Could Improve Telework Documentation and Personnel Data
Fast Facts
The Coast Guard took steps to protect its staff from COVID-19, including expanding telework. As staff continue using this flexibility, the Coast Guard needs to ensure staff are following telework policies—now, and going forward.
Further, Coast Guard staff self-report their telework use and health statuses. The Coast requires this data to be audited weekly for accuracy, but it can't confirm these audits are happening. As a result, the Coast Guard may be using inaccurate data to plan technology investments, determine staff's mission readiness, and more.
We recommended ways for the Coast Guard to improve its telework and personnel data.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel help an individual disembark from a cruise ship tender during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The U.S. Coast Guard took steps to safeguard its personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic by updating its policies and guidance, expanding telework, and administering COVID-19 vaccines, among other efforts. For example, the Coast Guard formed a COVID-19 Crisis Action Team comprising targeted working groups to address COVID-19-related issues and develop new policies and guidance. Further, from December 2020 through April 2021, the Coast Guard administered vaccines to 35,439 (about 64 percent) of its personnel.
Selected U.S. Coast Guard COVID-19 Crisis Action Team Working Groups
The Coast Guard also took actions to address a variety of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, officials from all nine sectors (i.e., operational field units) we interviewed identified challenges with information technology system functionality when the Coast Guard expanded telework in March 2020. This included insufficient network bandwidth and a lack of laptop computers. To address these challenges, the Coast Guard increased network bandwidth to allow more simultaneous users and provided additional laptops to field offices. In addition, the Coast Guard faced other challenges during the pandemic, including ensuring personnel continued to receive necessary training and on-the-job experience.
GAO found that the Coast Guard lacks controls over telework documentation and its personnel data are not reliable. First, the Coast Guard expanded its telework program during the pandemic, but lacks controls to ensure that teleworking personnel have valid and current telework agreements in place. Officials told us that high levels of participation in its telework program may continue following the pandemic. Thus, ensuring that all personnel who telework have valid and current telework agreements in place will provide the Coast Guard with the information needed to make decisions that require telework data, such as for space planning or technology investments. Second, the Coast Guard modified its personnel system to allow personnel to self-report and update their COVID-19 and telework statuses. GAO analyzed these data from April 2020 through April 2021 and found they were not reliable due to missing data and concerns about accuracy. In particular, Coast Guard officials could not provide assurance or evidence that weekly audits purposefully designed to verify the accuracy and completeness of these data were being conducted. Without such assurance, the Coast Guard may be relying on inaccurate and incomplete information when making decisions that rely on these data, such as for assessing its operational readiness.
Why GAO Did This Study
The Coast Guard is a multi-mission maritime military service responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental protection, among other things. During the pandemic, the Coast Guard has faced challenges in balancing the need to safeguard its personnel with its responsibility to continue missions and operations.
In response to a CARES Act mandate and congressional requests, GAO reviewed the Coast Guard's efforts to respond to the pandemic. This report examines (1) the Coast Guard's actions to reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure for its personnel; (2) challenges the Coast Guard faced in operating in a pandemic environment and how it addressed them; and (3) the extent to which the Coast Guard has collected and maintained valid and current telework documentation, as well as accurate and complete COVID-19 data on its personnel.
GAO reviewed Coast Guard COVID-19 policies and guidance, interviewed officials from headquarters and a non-probability sample of nine Coast Guard sectors, and analyzed data on the status of Coast Guard personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommendations
GAO recommends the Coast Guard ensure that (1) personnel have valid telework agreements in place, (2) these agreements are reviewed at least annually, and (3) weekly audits are conducted to verify the status of personnel. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with these recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should develop and implement additional internal controls to ensure that all personnel participating in the Coast Guard's telework program have valid telework agreements in place. (Recommendation 1) |
In July 2021, we reported that the Coast Guard took steps to safeguard its personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that the Coast Guard did so by expanding telework, among other efforts. However, the Coast Guard lacked controls to ensure that teleworking personnel have valid and current telework agreements in place. As a result, we recommended that the Coast Guard should develop and implement additional internal controls to ensure that all personnel participating in the Coast Guard's telework program have valid telework agreements in place. In response, in October 2022, as an additional internal control, the Coast Guard updated its telework program instruction to state that supervisors must review their personnel's telework agreements annually on or before the beginning of the fiscal year, October 1st, or more frequently as needed. To further ensure that teleworking personnel have valid and current telework agreements in place, the Coast Guard sent two reminders to personnel about their telework requirements. In April 2022, the Coast Guard Office of Civilian Human Resources sent an email to civilian personnel. In October 2022, the Coast Guard sent a notification to all personnel. Coast Guard officials reported that they would send this notification to all personnel on an annual basis. By ensuring that all personnel who telework have valid and current telework agreements in place, the Coast Guard will be better positioned to maintain the information needed to make decisions that require telework data, such as for space planning or technology investments.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should develop and implement additional internal controls to ensure that supervisors review telework agreements at least annually and document these reviews. (Recommendation 2) |
In July 2021, we reported that the Coast Guard took steps to safeguard its personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that the Coast Guard did so by expanding telework, among other efforts. However, the Coast Guard did not have controls to ensure that supervisors reviewed telework agreements at least annually and documented these reviews. As a result, we recommended that the Coast Guard should develop and implement additional internal controls to ensure that supervisors review telework agreements at least annually and document these reviews. In response, in October 2022, the Coast Guard updated its telework program instruction to state that supervisors must review their personnel's telework agreements annually on or before the beginning of the fiscal year, October 1st, or more frequently as needed. Supervisors document their review by signing the telework agreement. To ensure that supervisors review telework agreements at least annually, Coast Guard's telework program instruction also requires supervisors to retain a copy of all telework agreements and provide them upon request. Coast Guard provided examples of telework agreements to us. By ensuring that supervisors review telework agreements at least annually and document these reviews, the Coast Guard has better assurance that its telework program policies are being met.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that required weekly audits are being conducted to verify the accuracy and completeness of data on the COVID-19 and telework statuses of Coast Guard personnel. (Recommendation 3) |
In July 2021, we reported that the Coast Guard took steps to safeguard its personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that the Coast Guard modified its personnel system to allow personnel to self-report and update their COVID-19 and telework statuses. However, Coast Guard officials could not provide assurance or evidence that weekly audits purposefully designed to verify the accuracy and completeness of these data were being conducted. As a result, we recommended that the Coast Guard should ensure that required weekly audits are being conducted to verify the accuracy and completeness of data on the COVID-19 and telework statuses of Coast Guard personnel. In response, in May 2023, the Coast Guard provided documentation that it conducted weekly audits starting in November 2022. The Coast Guard also documented its process for conducting the weekly audit to identify personnel who have not updated their status in over 30 days. By ensuring that weekly audits are conducted, the Coast Guard has better assurance that they have quality information when making operational decisions.
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