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Summary

The term Deepwater refers to a collection of more than a dozen Coast Guard acquisition programs for replacing and modernizing the service's aging fleet of deepwater-capable ships and aircraft. Until April 2007, the Coast Guard had pursued these programs as a single, integrated acquisition program that was known as the Integrated Deepwater System (IDS) program or Deepwater program for short. The now-separated Deepwater acquisition programs include plans for, among other things, 91 new cutters, 124 new small boats, and 247 new or modernized airplanes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Coast Guard has requested $990.4 million in FY2009 acquisition funding for Deepwater programs. The House Appropriations Committee marked up and approved the FY2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill on June 24, 2008. As of June 26, 2008, no bill number was available for the House bill. The committee, in its summary of the markup, stated that it is recommending reducing the Coast Guard's FY2009 acquisition funding request for Deepwater programs by $56.7 million. The committee also stated in the summary that "due to procurement problems and delays, $500 million is withheld pending submission of a detailed management and expenditure plan." The Senate Appropriations Committee, in its report (S.Rept. 110-396 of June 23, 2008) on the FY2009 DHS appropriations bill (S. 3181), recommends increasing the Coast Guard's request by $23.7 million. The year 2007 was a watershed year for Deepwater acquisition. The management and execution of what was then the single, integrated Deepwater program was strongly criticized by various observers. House and Senate committees held several oversight hearings on the program. Bills were introduced to restructure or reform the program in various ways. Coast Guard and industry officials acknowledged certain problems in the program's management and execution and defended the program's management and execution in other respects. The Coast Guard announced a number of reform actions that significantly altered the service's approach to Deepwater acquisition (and to Coast Guard acquisition in general). A June 2008 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on Deepwater acquisition found that "Coast Guard leadership is making positive changes to its management and acquisition approach to the Deepwater Program that should put it in a position to realize better outcomes, although challenges to its efforts remain." Potential oversight issues for Congress in 2008 include but are not necessarily limited to the Coast Guard's overall management of Deepwater acquisition, the status of certain Deepwater acquisition programs, and the so-called revolving door issue. This report will be updated as events warrant.

Related Legislation:
• S.3181

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