Management Alert: NOAA Must Take Action to Address Significant Ship Fleet Recapitalization Risks

While conducting a risk assessment to inform our Fiscal Year 2024 Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Department of Commerce report, we concluded that the ship construction program the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is currently undertaking is insufficient to fully meet the requirements outlined in the bureau’s fleet plan. Further, the lack of an up-to-date fleet plan has negatively impacted NOAA’s ability to communicate its capability needs and required funding. In addition, we highlight a significant challenge in ensuring that the agency has sufficient staff with the required skills to simultaneously acquire three new classes of ships. We also identify a need for increased programmatic oversight of these complicated and expensive acquisition programs.