By Mary Kerr (202) 225-6260
The House of Representatives passed landmark legislation today that will significantly improve the management of the U.S. Coast Guard’s troubled $24 billion Deepwater acquisition program. The Integrated Deepwater Program Reform Act of 2008, H.R. 6999, provides meaningful reforms to the Coast Guard’s multi-year program to replace all Coast Guard aircraft and cutters that primarily operate more than 50-miles offshore, according to Rep. James L. Oberstar (Minn.), Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Last year, the House passed H.R. 2722, the Integrated Deepwater Program Reform Act, by a vote of 426-0. The Senate subsequently passed its Deepwater Reform bill, S. 924, by unanimous consent. H.R. 6999 is the bipartisan compromise agreement of these two bills of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
“The Coast Guard’s Deepwater program is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. The Committee has conducted numerous oversight hearings on this program to understand why there have been cost-overruns and why the Coast Guard spent $100 million to renovate and replace eight of its 110-foot patrol boats – only to have these renovated boats tied to the dock as unseaworthy,” said Oberstar. “The Coast Guard wants Congress to continue to write the checks, while they say ‘trust us’ to spend the taxpayers’ money wisely. While I would trust them with my life at sea, I don’t think we should continue to write blank checks without demanding standards and accountability.”
Another acquisition program, Rescue 21, which is intended to upgrade the systems the Coast Guard utilizes to locate those in distress at sea, is now hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
“My Subcommittee’s oversight of the Coast Guard’s Deepwater procurements program revealed multiple failures, because the Coast Guard did not have the systems and personnel necessary to manage large acquisitions, and it left private sector contractors to police themselves,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard. “This bill brings common-sense oversight and management reform measures – many of them based on current practices within the Department of Defense – to the Coast Guard. It also requires strict and appropriate accountability from the service for its stewardship of taxpayer resources.”
H.R. 6999, as amended, also contains a provision that prohibits the operation of a stateless submersible or semisubmersible vessel on the high seas.
“Use of submarines has become a new trend with the international drug runners operating out of Columbia. When the Coast Guard interdicts these vessels the smugglers pull a lever to flood and sink the submarine, and then wait for the Coast Guard to ‘rescue’ them,” Oberstar said. “However, all of the drugs are on the bottom of the ocean and it makes a prosecution more difficult. So Coast Guard personnel are risking their lives to enter the sinking submarine to get some of the cocaine as evidence. H.R. 6999 will obviate the need to enter the submarine. The Coast Guard can arrest the smugglers and they can be prosecuted for operating these pirate submarines.”
“As a Representative of the City of Baltimore, I know that every gram of illegal drugs we keep off our Nation’s streets is a gram that cannot destroy a life,” said Cummings. “Smugglers are continually developing new ways to bring drugs to our shores, and our laws must be updated to enable law enforcement personnel to prosecute new types of crimes. This bill does precisely that.”
The legislators said the bill will ensure that the nearly 42,000 men and women of the Coast Guard are equipped with state-of-the-art assets equal to the missions they will perform and the challenges they will face in the 21st century.
Specifically, the bill:
• terminates the use of lead systems integrators beginning 180 days after the date of enactment, but provides exceptions that allow the Coast Guard to use such integrators until 2011 when certain conditions are met;
• establishes a Chief Acquisition Officer for the Coast Guard. The CAO may be a civilian or military officer, but must have a level III acquisition program manager certificate and 10 years of experience in an acquisition position;
• requires that the Commandant, and not the contractor, retain the technical authority to determine when the contract specifications have been met;
• requires Early Operational Assessments to be conducted on all aircraft and cutters after they are designed – but before they are built – to ensure that they will meet the mission requirements of the Coast Guard;
• requires all new cutters and aircraft and their engines to be certified by an independent 3rd party to ensure they meet design and performance requirements;
• requires the development of workforce policies to ensure that the best qualified individuals are assigned to the acquisition program;
• requires the Commandant to establish career paths for military and civilian personnel who wish to pursue careers in acquisition programs;
• establishes civil and criminal penalties for operating a submersible or semisubmersible vessel that is without nationality on the high seas;
• requires the Commandant to establish a balanced workforce policy to promote a workforce in which women and members of racial and ethnic minorities are appropriately represented in Government service;
• requires the Coast Guard to report to Congress when there are cost overruns or program delays; and
• requires the Coast Guard to use the Department of Defense’s contract management expertise and contracting, where appropriate, to obtain the best possible price for Coast Guard assets.
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