Optimizing a Portfolio Approach to Improve Condition Index and Sustain Critical U.S. Coast Guard Facilities
Open AccessThe United States Coast Guard manages and maintains a vast network of shore infrastructure assets, comprising 43,550 assets across 3,320 sites, with an estimated value of over $27 billion dollars. However, years of inadequate investments have produced a backlog of shore infrastructure projects in excess of $3 billion dollars. Based on historical funding appropriations, the Coast Guard said it would take approximately 395 years to address this backlog (GAO-19-82, 2019). One of the key issues contributing to this backlog has been not considering life cycle costing in infrastructure planning. Overall, operation and maintenance expenses comprise 60% to 80% of a facility’s overall life cycle cost. Although significant progress has been made in this area, the Coast Guard still must address the billions of dollars in deferred backlogged projects. This capability gap exacerbates facility degradation, shortens service life, and increases future repair costs. The U.S. Coast Guard lacks an optimized, data-driven approach prioritizing maintenance activities for critical shore infrastructure assets. Such an approach is crucial for combating the compounding effects of facility degradation, mitigating operational impact, and operating efficiently within resource constraints. In this environment, investments must be allocated based on need, as determined by facility key performance indicators (KPIs) like the condition index. Furthermore, due to the Coast Guard’s crucial role in national security, these investments must consider KPIs reflecting the criticality of each asset concerning mission execution and operational readiness. This intersection of mission essentiality, mission dependency, and facility needs is critical to operational readiness within a resource constrained environment.
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