A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows that the U.S. Coast Guard’s current $2.6B infrastructure construction and maintenance backlogs pose financial, safety and mission performance risks to the service. GAO issued the report on Thursday showing the service branch has $1.7B worth of delayed construction and improvement projects, which would take 395 years to address.Â
In 2018, the Coast Guard also saw over 5,600 projects that required maintenance and would cost $900M. GAO claims nearly 45 percent of the service’s shore infrastructure is beyond service life. The Coast Guard owns or leases over 20,000 shore facilities like piers, docks, boat stations, air stations and housing units in more than 2,700 locations.
To help the service meet project requirements, GAO recommends changing the management of shore infrastructure backlogs and the use of new models to predict the outcome of investments for maintenance projects. In 2017, Coast Guard officials admitted to Congress it has $1.6B in recapitalization backlog for its shore infrastructures.
