Coast Guard: Actions Needed to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Organizational Changes and Determine Workforce Needs
Fast Facts
The Coast Guard provides maritime safety, security, and environmental protection. Since 9/11, its roles and responsibilities have grown to include national security and disaster response. The Coast Guard recently told Congress that it doesn’t have enough people to meet its mission demands.
However, we found the service doesn’t have a complete picture of the workforce needed for meeting its mission demands. For example, it only has current workforce assessments for 4% of its unit types. We made 6 recommendations, including that the Coast Guard update its workforce assessment plan with timeframes and milestones for completion.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel
Highlights
What GAO Found
The U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) realigned its mission planning and mission support functions through an effort known as “modernization,” but did not consistently apply key practices for agency reorganization in implementing the effort. Of seven key practices, the Coast Guard did not apply two and partially applied three. For example, the Coast Guard did not measure its progress in achieving the goal of modernization, as key practices recommend. Coast Guard documents for organizational change and associated guidance do not require such practices to be followed. By ensuring such practices are implemented, the Coast Guard will be better positioned to determine the extent to which its investments meet modernization's goal of improving effectiveness and efficiency.
Although the Coast Guard has informed Congress that it needs to increase its workforce, it has assessed a small portion of its workforce needs. Its preferred tool for assessing workforce needs is its manpower requirements determination process, which includes manpower requirements analyses (MRA) and is completed with a manpower requirements determination (MRD). Coast Guard guidance states that MRAs are to be updated every 5 years, and according to its April 2018 Manpower Requirements Plan, the Coast Guard's goal is to complete MRDs for all of its 58,000 personnel and 158 unit types. However, the Coast Guard had completed MRAs for 13 percent of its workforce and MRDs for 2 percent over the past 5 calendar years (see figure).
Share of U.S. Coast Guard Workforce Supported by Manpower Requirements Analyses and Manpower Requirements Determinations, Calendar Years 2003 through 2019
Note: The U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) began implementing the manpower requirements determination process in 2003.
aCoast Guard guidance states that manpower requirements analyses should be updated every 5 years. This shows the share of analyses and associated determinations the Coast Guard completed within the past 5 years, in accordance with its guidance.
The Coast Guard's plan does not include time frames and milestones for how it will achieve its workforce assessment goal, and information on the resources it needs to complete MRDs for all positions and units has not been updated in 10 years. By updating its plan to complete manpower requirements determinations and obtaining information on the resources needed to achieve its workforce assessment goal, the Coast Guard will be better positioned to ensure that it has the right number of people with requisite skills in the right units to meet its mission demands and to inform Congress of its manpower needs.
Why GAO Did This Study
The Coast Guard is a multi-mission maritime military service responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental protection, among other things. Since 2006 the Coast Guard has implemented organizational changes to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. During this time, the Coast Guard also created a workforce assessments process to determine the number of personnel and skills required to meet mission needs. In April 2018, the Coast Guard reported to Congress that it was operating below the workforce necessary to meet its mission needs.
GAO was asked to review the status of the Coast Guard's modernization and workforce assessment efforts. Among other things, this report examines the extent to which the Coast Guard (1) applied key practices for agency reorganization and (2) has assessed its workforce needs. GAO analyzed Coast Guard documents used to plan and implement its modernization effort against GAO key practices for agency reorganization. GAO also analyzed Coast Guard workforce assessments and data from 2003 through 2019. GAO also reviewed policy and planning documents and interviewed Coast Guard officials.
Recommendations
GAO is making six recommendations, including that the Coast Guard measure progress in achieving the goal of modernization, update a plan with time frames and milestones for completing its workforce assessment goal, and obtain information on the resources needed to meet its goal. DHS concurred with our recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should establish a systematic mechanism to track implementation and measure the Coast Guard's progress in achieving organizational change goals. (Recommendation 1) |
In February 2020, we reported on the U.S. Coast Guard's modernization efforts to realign its operations and mission support functions to address deficiencies that affected its ability to fulfill missions. We found that the Coast Guard had not consistently applied selected key reform practices for agency reorganization to its modernization effort. Specifically, the Coast Guard did not apply or partially applied 5 of 7 selected key practices, such as tracking and measuring its implementation progress. For example, for each of the key reform practices that were not fully implemented, we found that the Coast Guard's organizational change request process and associated guidance documents did not require such practices to be followed, nor require tracking implementation of changes, collecting data to measure progress, or assessing employee satisfaction. We recommended that the Coast Guard establish a systematic mechanism to track implementation and measure progress in achieving its organizational change goals. The Coast Guard concurred. In January 2024, it revised its Organizational Manual to include requirements for data collection, metrics, timeframes, and milestones to track the extent to which its organizational changes achieve their goals and improve mission performance. By systematically tracking progress of organizational change efforts and measuring its effects, the Coast Guard is better positioned to identify any challenges to meeting the goals of the organizational change in a timely manner.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should establish a mechanism to periodically seek and monitor employee satisfaction with organizational change efforts. (Recommendation 2) |
In February 2020, we reported on the Coast Guard's efforts to modernize its organizational structure and the extent to which it applied key reform practices to its organizational change efforts. We found that the Coast Guard realigned operations and mission support functions but did not consistently apply key reform practices to its modernization effort. Specifically, the Coast Guard, did not continue to seek employee feedback on organizational changes past the early stages of the modernization effort . Surveys that we reviewed found that those instruments did not include questions specific to the impact of the organizational change efforts nor did they capture employee perspective in a timely manner. We recommended that the Coast Guard should establish a systematic mechanism to periodically seek and monitor employee satisfaction with organizational change efforts. The Coast Guard concurred, and in September 2023, Coast Guard officials confirmed that it updated its 2023 Organizational Survey to include two questions that measured employee satisfaction with organizational change efforts. It officially launched the survey on August 14, 2023. By measuring the effects of change efforts, including employee satisfaction, the Coast Guard is better positioned to identify any challenges to meeting the goals of the organizational change in a timely manner.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should update its Manpower Requirements Manual with guidance for how to execute its manpower requirements determination process, and take steps to ensure the process is implemented. (Recommendation 3) |
In February 2020, we reported on the U.S. Coast Guard's actions to determine its workforce needs. We reported that although the manpower requirements determination process is the Coast Guard's preferred method for determining workforce needs, it did not have current guidance explaining the process steps for Coast Guard officials to follow to systematically execute the process. Coast Guard officials told us that they were using a combination of two documents to guide its manpower requirements process, and neither document was both current and comprehensive in terms of detailing the steps to follow. We recommended that the Coast Guard should update its Manpower Requirements Manual with guidance for how to execute its manpower requirements determination process, and take steps to ensure the process is implemented. The Coast Guard concurred, and in response, updated its guidance. In November 2020, the Coast Guard published its Manpower Requirements Manual with updated guidance and in April 2021 published a Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP) document with additional guidance. For example, the TTP includes explicit directions for the Coast Guard's collection and analysis of manpower data and establishes the standards for key factors and allowances for Coast Guard personnel to consider when conducting manpower analyses. By issuing updated guidance for conducting manpower requirements determinations that outlines required process steps, and any circumstances in which the process steps do not need to be performed, the Coast guard can better ensure that those responsible for implementing the process do so consistently.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should track and document the extent to which it has completed manpower requirements analyses and determinations for each unit type. (Recommendation 4) |
In February 2020, we reported on the Coast Guard's actions to determine its workforce needs. We reported that the Coast Guard had not tracked the extent to which it had assessed the staffing needs of its units through its manpower requirements determination process. We also reported that the Coast Guard was not aware that tracking the manpower assessments it has completed was a requirement. We recommended that the Coast Guard should track and document the extent to which it has completed manpower requirements analyses and determinations for each unit type. The Coast Guard concurred, and in response, in January 2022, created a document to track its completion of manpower requirements analyses and determinations for each unit type. The tracker lists each unit in the Coast Guard's workforce, along with the date the Coast Guard last completed a manpower requirements analysis and determination for that unit. In addition, the tracker identifies the percentage of the workforce that the Coast Guard has supported with a manpower requirements analysis and a manpower requirements determination. By tracking and documenting the extent to which it has completed manpower assessments of its workforce, the Coast Guard is better positioned to know which units have a defensible basis for the number and type of personnel needed to meet mission demands. Additionally, tracking the completion of manpower assessments will enable the Coast Guard to prioritize which assessments to conduct in the future.
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| United States Coast Guard |
Priority Rec.
The Commandant of the Coast Guard should update its April 2018 Manpower Requirements Plan to include time frames and milestones for completing manpower requirements analyses and determinations for all positions and units. (Recommendation 5) |
The Coast Guard concurred with this recommendation and said it would update its Manpower Requirements Plan during the next required periodic report submission to Congress, in fiscal year 2022. The Coast Guard stated that this would be completed by March 31, 2022. In June 2022, it stated that it estimated submitting the updated plan to Congress by the end of December 2022. In March 2023, Coast Guard provided its Manpower Requirements Plan to Congress. However, the plan did not include milestones or timeframes for completing manpower requirements analysis and determinations for all positions and units, as Coast Guard had previously stated it would do to implement the recommendation. Therefore, the plan submission did not meet the intent of our recommendation. In May 2023, Coast Guard officials told us it had been difficult to develop accurate timeframes and milestones, in part because the service did not have adequate resources to complete the necessary MRDs. Coast Guard officials told us that they could develop an estimate of how many positions it plans to assess in the next five years given their current resource constraints and agency priorities. In September 2023, Coast Guard officials provided a memorandum outlining its manpower study intent for fiscal years 2023 to 2028. According to this August 2023 document, the Coast Guard intends to begin or complete manpower requirement analysis for about 20 units, subject to resource availability, shifting priorities, and other factors. We will continue to monitor actions Coast Guard takes to fully implement this recommendation.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should determine the resources its manpower requirements determination program needs, both staff and funding, to achieve its goal of completing manpower requirements determinations for all positions and units. (Recommendation 6) |
The Coast Guard concurred with this recommendation and said it would review its 2010 manpower requirements analysis (MRA) that determined the resources the Coast Guard required for its manpower requirements determination program. Its Office of Human Resources Strategy and Capability will then re-validate the inputs and update the findings for the manpower requirements analysis to reflect the currents needs of the manpower requirements determination program. The Coast Guard confirmed that it completed its review and validation of the Manpower Requirements Determination Program MRA on August 27, 2020. They stated that this updated manpower requirement was used to support a FY23 Resource proposal. In May 2021, the Coast Guard provided the signed manpower requirements determination for the program. Based on this information, in June 2021, the Coast Guard determined the personnel needed and associated funding need for the program. Specifically, the Coast Guard determined that it required an additional 19 billets, rather than the current number of 10, and $625,000 to meet its goal of conducting 25 manpower requirements analyses annually. We therefore consider this recommendation to be closed as implemented.
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