GAO: USCG’s Shore Maintenance Infrastructure Backlog Has Ballooned to $7B

Failure by the U.S. Coast Guard to invest in maintaining and renewing its crumpling shore infrastructure and a lack of funding from the U.S. Congress has resulted in a significant increase in the amount required to carry out the work. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is again shining the spotlight on the agency’s mounting challenges, estimating that the USCG now requires $7 billion to rebuild its deteriorating shore infrastructures, more than double the amount required in 2019.

GOA carried out a detailed assessment in 2019 of the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructures and made recommendations to manage the growing challenges. Based on USCG assessments, GAO determined that about 50 percent of the facilities were past their expected service life. The agency needed $2.6 billion to revamp the facilities comprising assets like piers, runways, and buildings. USCG it reports has about 40,000 shore infrastructure assets with a value of $24.5 billion.

Six years later GAO finds little has been achieved and the agency is now grappling with an infrastructure maintenance backlog amounting to $7 billion. The Coast Guard admitted in a 2023 report that the condition of most of the facilities ranged from “mediocre to fair” and were contributing to the worsening operational challenges. 

The Coast Guard cites budgetary constraints for the backlog, reporting the government’s budgets since 2019 failed to include requested funding levels that the agency identified were required to meet its targets in terms of shore infrastructure investments. A case in point is the 2025 financial year in which the agency requested $709 million but was only allocated $167 million by Congress.

Apart from budgetary constraints that have forced the deferment of maintenance, the agency is also attributing the surge in backlog to new facilities that are needed to accommodate new assets including the offshore patrol cutters (OPC). The