The design of the Polar Security Cutter is not yet fully complete, leading to an “extended design phase and [contributing] to a three-year schedule delay in the shipyard,” according to the report.
The services planned for the design to be fully mature and complete by March 2021, but officials now say that the earliest they expect the design “to be mature enough for the program to conduct the production readiness reviews,” is March 2024, when construction is due to begin.
Four major factors have impacted the delay: U.S. designers and shipbuilders lack experience with designing and building polar icebreakers; the design is incredibly complex and complicated; the current design has been changed significantly from the original; and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down design and manufacturing.
VT Halter Marine was the original contractor until Bollinger Shipyards acquired the company in November 2022. Bollinger executives told GAO investigators the previous management made errors that resulted in the need to do redesign work.
However, the Polar Security Cutter is not the first Coast Guard program to run into a myriad of problems and design delays of late. The GAO found similar issues with the Offshore Patrol Cutter. A June 20 report said the $12 billion program to acquire 25 new cutters also started construction before its design was mature, resulting in costly rework and schedule delays.