Coast Guard

Management of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Program Needs Strengthening Gao ID: RCED-93-157 May 25, 1993

The Coast Guard's Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Program seeks technological advancements that will improve the agency's operations. The program's annual appropriation averaged $28 million in fiscal years 1992 and 1993. This report raises concerns that the Coast Guard lacks adequate (1) policies and procedures for selecting research, development, test, and evaluation projects and (2) management tools to effectively manage its Research and Development Center.

GAO found that the Coast Guard: (1) lacks adequate policies and procedures for selecting RDT&E projects, a clear definition of RDT&E to determine the types of projects that should be included in the program, and a long-range plan to fund RDT&E projects that are urgently needed; (2) could not ensure that its management of the R&D center was effective because it has not developed an adequate management information system for tracking overall project performance and linking performance data with planning and financial information or an evaluation process to measure the impact of RDT&E programs; and (3) needs to develop a management information system to ensure that its resources are effectively spent and projects are accurately monitored.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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