Coast Guard Shore Infrastructure: More Than $7 Billion Reportedly Needed to Address Deteriorating Assets

What GAO Found

The Coast Guard has nearly 40,000 shore infrastructure assets that include boat stations, piers, and buildings from which it carries out operations. Other support infrastructure includes utility systems, training facilities, and housing units as shown below. Together, the value of these assets is $24.5 billion, according to Coast Guard data.

Example of Coast Guard Shore Infrastructure (Housing for Coast Guard Personnel in Kodiak, AK)

The Coast Guard faces a growing backlog of shore infrastructure projects that will cost at least $7 billion to address as of June 2024, according to Coast Guard data. However, the President’s budget requests from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2025 for the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure have not included funding levels that the Coast Guard has identified would meet its targets. According to the Coast Guard, the funding targets to sustain shore infrastructure varied from approximately $439 million in fiscal year 2019 to $709 million in fiscal year 2025. Actual funding levels varied from approximately $255 million in fiscal year 2019 to $415 million in fiscal year 2024.

In 2019, GAO made six recommendations to help the Coast Guard better manage its shore infrastructure. As of February 2025, the Coast Guard has fully addressed two of those recommendations and taken steps toward addressing three of them. For example, as a result of GAO’s recommendations, the Coast Guard is in the process of systematically assessing the condition of its shore infrastructure. However, it has not yet fully implemented tools and analyses—such as models to predict investment outcomes, analyze trade-offs, and make resource decisions—that could help reduce the costs of maintaining its shore infrastructure. One recommendation remains unaddressed—that the Coast Guard should include supporting details about competing project alternatives and report trade-offs in congressional budget requests and related reports. Coast Guard officials said they are considering publishing annual reports that provide key information about shore infrastructure assets as a step towards addressing this recommendation.

Fully addressing all six of GAO’s 2019 recommendations could help the Coast Guard more efficiently manage existing resources, including reducing costs and positioning the Coast Guard and Congress with better information to address shore infrastructure challenges.

Why GAO Did This Study

In 2019, GAO reported that about 45 percent of the Coast Guard's shore infrastructure was beyond its agency-expected service life and that the Coast Guard faced infrastructure project backlogs of at least $2.6 billion.

GAO was asked to review issues related to Coast Guard shore infrastructure. This report provides information on the extent to which the Coast Guard addressed GAO’s 2019 recommendations related to managing the condition of its shore infrastructure. GAO also examined the nature and condition of Coast Guard shore infrastructure and its project backlogs as of June 2024.

To conduct this work, GAO analyzed Coast Guard documentation on its overall management of shore infrastructure and its processes as of fiscal year 2024 for assessing the condition of facilities. GAO analyzed Department of Homeland Security budget data for fiscal years 2019 through 2025, including Coast Guard shore infrastructure funding targets. GAO also interviewed Coast Guard officials.

For more information, contact Heather MacLeod at (202) 512-8777 or macleodh@gao.gov.