Skip to main content

Coast Guard: Station Spending Requirements Met, but Better Processes Needed to Track Designated Funds

GAO-04-704 Published: May 28, 2004. Publicly Released: May 28, 2004.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

The Coast Guard conducts homeland security and search and rescue operations from nearly 200 shoreside stations along the nation's coasts and waterways. After several rescue mishaps that resulted in the deaths of civilians and station personnel, Congress recognized a need to improve performance at stations and appropriated additional funds to increase stations' readiness levels. For fiscal year 2003, the Coast Guard received designated funds of $15.7 million specifically to increase spending for stations' staffing, personal protection equipment (such as life vests and cold weather protection suits), personnel retention, and training needs. Congress directed GAO to determine if the Coast Guard's fiscal year 2003 outlays for stations increased by this amount over fiscal year 2002 expenditure levels. GAO also assessed the adequacy of the processes used by the Coast Guard to account for the expenditure of designated funds.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Coast Guard To improve the Coast Guard's ability to respond to congressional oversight and to provide greater assurance that earmarked funds are used appropriately, the Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to develop, in accordance with the fiscal year 2004 departmental guidelines, processes to accurately and completely account for the obligation and expenditure of earmarked appropriations.
Closed – Implemented
The Coast Guard has developed a new accounting system process to allocate budget authority, which will allow the agency to accurately and completely account for the obligation and expenditure of earmarked appropriations. Based on this information we consider this recommendation to have been implemented.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

Appropriated fundsCoastal zone managementFinancial managementPerformance measuresBudget outlaysPersonnel managementU.S. Coast GuardExpenditure of fundsHuman resources managementHomeland security