The Government Accountability Office has called on Congress to require the U.S. Navy to change the way the service buys frigates and hold funds for Littoral Combat Ship acquisitions in fiscal year 2017.

GAO said Thursday that it also wants the Defense Department to demand reviews prior to acquisition decisions and step up oversight through a mandatory development of documents and reports for the frigate program.

After a study on alternatives meant to address the LCS program’s lethality and survivability shortfalls, the Navy reported compromises in the modifications made to both LCS variants in keeping with the service’s requirements.

GAO also concluded that the Navy’s 2014 plan to acquire both LCS variants will not result in improved capability in certain areas of the program.

“Industrial base considerations that have factored into prior LCS decisions are less compelling, as both yards will be building LCS currently under contract through fiscal year 2021,” GAO said in the report.

“As the Navy pivots from LCS to the frigate program, which is estimated to cost more than $8 billion for ship construction alone, its approach would require Congress to appropriate funding with key unknowns.”

The U.S. Army has redesigned its career management portal in a move to help soldiers, officers and Army civilians explore career opportunities according to their military skills, Army Times reported Thursday.

Michelle Tan writes the updated Army Career Tracker site works to help soldiers monitor their progress and career development, find educational and training resources, establish goals, receive advice from mentors and join training courses.

Jeffrey Colimon, the Army Career Tracker functional program manager, said the redesigned portal features an Army sponsorship program that links soldiers set for a change of station to a sponsor at the new designated unit, the publication reports.

The site has more than 670,000 enlisted, 135,000 officers and warrants and nearly 200,000 Army civilian users as of May 27 and collects information from 14 different Army systems such as training opportunities and education requirements into a single place, according to the report.

The U.S. Navy has transported its newest oceanographic survey vessel to Port Everglades near Florida to its construction site Pascagoula, Mississippi in the ship’s first voyage.

The Naval Oceanographic Office’s civilian survey detachment assessed USNS Maury’s over-the-side operations and underwater cameras designed for autonomous underwater vehicle launch and recovery missions during the trip, the Navy said Thursday.

Named after Cmdr. Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey vessel spans 353 feet in length and accommodates a moon pool for launching and retrieving autonomous underwater vehicles.

Capt. Nick Vincent, NAVOCEANO executive officer, said USNS Maury is intended to provide technology to warfighters and set a foundation for the next class of survey vessels.

The Military Sealift Command operates the oceanographic survey vessel and NAVOCEANO took control of the ship for the chief of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.