US lawmakers call Coast Guard upgrade plan flawed
Posted on: Thursday, 21 July 2005, 19:25 CDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Coast Guard's $24 billion plan to modernize its fleet in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is wasteful and poorly executed, U.S. lawmakers said on Thursday.
The cost is up from a previously estimated $19 billion and spends too much on keeping existing ships in service, said Rep. Harold Rogers, chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
"You simply brought the most expensive, all-inclusive Cadillac Seville, and with our limited funds we'll have to fit you into something more appropriate," the Kentucky Republican told a hearing on the Coast Guard request.
The Coast Guard wants the $24 billion through 2027, including $966 million for fiscal 2006 beginning Oct. 1, to begin building and deploying technologically superior platforms for its fleet before aging models become naturally obsolete. Keeping aging models in service until retired is very expensive.
Rear Admiral Patrick Stillman, the Coast Guard's Deepwater Program Executive Director, testified that only a quarter of the service's 110-foot patrol boats -- used in deep water -- are "mission capable."
Commandant Adm. Thomas Collins said that the agency's ability to patrol coastal waters would be greatly improved with the delivery of Fast Response Cutters to replace existing patrol boats, and upgraded planes and helicopters.
Collins said the first Fast Response Cutters should be built by late 2007.
The prime contractor and system integrator for Deepwater, the largest acquisition program in the Coast Guard's history, is ICGS, a joint venture between Northrop Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
Lawmakers said the Coast Guard's poor communication of its planning for the project had hurt its case.
Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, the ranking Democrat on the full House Appropriation Committee, said a report from the Coast Guard on Deepwater's needs was originally due in February. "It's more than a little late," he said.
The Coast Guard's contract with ICGS, up for renewal in 2007, was also criticized.
A US Government Accountability Office report in 2004 said "The Coast Guard has neither measured the extent of competition among suppliers of Deepwater assets nor held the system integrator (ICGS) accountable for taking such steps to achieve competition."
The current contract "is just loaded with potential for trouble," said Minnesota Rep. Martin Sabo, the subcommittee's top Democrat.
Source: REUTERS
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