From WHEC to WMSL; Our Trackline to an Agile Mission Support Organization

Guest Post from VADM Clifford Pearson, Chief of Staff.

In my Dec. 17 guest blog entry, "Modernization Update: MLC Realignment," I noted the importance of the Coast Guard's effort to develop a centralized mission support organization. The development of this organization will be crucial to the Coast Guard's ability to maintain the highest standards of operational readiness. The organizational transformation now underway is part of a comprehensive process of modernization that will impact every aspect of how we plan, resource, execute and support our missions.

Among the areas affected by the modernization process, our shipbuilding program and naval engineering disciplines are fundamental to ensuring the fleet?s operational capability and readiness. Our progress in major shipbuilding projects shows the transformation that is taking place in these areas. We have delivered and commissioned a remarkably high quality first-in-class vessel, the Legend-class 418-foot National Security Cutter BERTHOLF. Our naval engineering and logistics community is transforming infrastructure to better support our legacy platforms, such as the Hamilton-class 378-foot High Endurance Cutters as well as our sophisticated new assets.

In the Commandant's Dec. 4 All Hands message on High-Endurance Cutter sustainment, ADM Allen underscored the declining materiel condition of some of our WHEC platforms, not solely to draw attention to deficiencies but rather to emphasize the need for continued momentum in modernizing our organization and our business processes. We already have made progress, in the 40-plus years since we acquired WHECs, and we have gained much experience that directly contributed to the acquisition of the NSCs. It is imperative that we internalize and apply the lessons we have learned from these projects as we undertake the monumental task of recapitalizing our fleet for the future.

Of experience, Ralph W. Emerson wrote that "the years teach much which the days never know," and that certainly has been true in the history of the Coast Guard's shipbuilding program. In January 1965, when we laid HAMILTON's keel at Avondale Shipyard, New Orleans, she was the first-in-class of the first major cutter project in 20 years. We learned a lot.

When we delivered HAMILTON in 1967, we immediately experienced significant reduction gear and superstructure cracking problems. We properly addressed these challenges and the 378s have served us well for more than 40 years.

When the 378s were 20 years old, we realized these cutters needed additional work to take them to the end of their service life. So, the Coast Guard launched the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program. While FRAM extended the service life of the WHEC fleet, it proved to be a costly exercise due to inadequate configuration control over the first two decades of their service. Our lack of configuration management discipline led to cost and schedule overruns. Our ongoing modernization and acquisition activities are very focused on configuration management as a key component of our cost control efforts and effective business processes.

In the 1990s, we studied options to solve our fleet's block obsolescence challenge. When we conceived the Integrated Deepwater System program, and the NSC as its centerpiece, we believed at that time that a new organization, independent from our acquisition and engineering offices would quickly lead the recapitalization of our materiel assets. The prevailing wisdom at the time argued that to be successful Deepwater needed to be unhindered by close interaction with the technical authorities or the sponsors. We of course have now changed that paradigm by institutionalizing close coordination among acquisition, technical authorities and the sponsors as we take on a greater role as lead systems integrator for all acquisitions, including shipbuilding.

One of our most important lessons is that success in our acquisition programs depends upon close partnership with the Coast Guard's technical authorities, with the sponsor and with third-parties such as the U.S. Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center enterprise. We are building just such a collaborative organization, as part of the movement to modernize the entire Coast Guard. The fact that we delivered BERTHOLF, our most technologically complex white-hull patrol cutter, with significantly fewer discrepancy reports than any other previous first article delivery is a testament to how far we have come.

We are modernizing our support infrastructure through the stand-up next month of the Surface Forces Logistics Center. Taking a page from our book on aviation support, SFLC will be structured according to dedicated product line support, strict discipline to configuration management principles, bi-level maintenance requirements, and total visibility of our parts inventory.

We are applying our experience in acquisition, having developed a professional and certified acquisition corps skilled in business and financial management, program management, systems engineering and other disciplines. We have begun to institute repeatable and scaleable processes that will ensure quality output from shipbuilding and other acquisition programs. Among these efforts, we have revised and updated our Major Systems Acquisition Manual, and strengthened our alignment with the Department of Homeland Security Acquisition Executive. At the same time, our engineering and logistics community is making necessary changes to our support infrastructure that will ensure disciplined configuration management within like classes of vessels and centralized management of resources for support above the unit level.

Today's working relationship between the directorates for Human Resources (CG-1), Engineering and Logistics (CG-4), Command, Control, Communications, Computers & IT (CG-6) and Acquisition (CG-9) is very different from the past. We are building synergy between these organizations and acquisition sponsors to develop greater capacity for the life cycle management of the Coast Guard's vital surface platforms. A current and direct benefit of this improved working relationship is the significant success of the WMEC and WPB Mission Effectiveness Projects being conducted at CG Yard. The DCMS partnership is already resulting in the improved mission capability of 270s, 210s and 110s, as demonstrated by Naval Engineering readiness measures.

Experience teaches us that our organizations and our people are very capable of reacting to the challenges of the day. However, we must establish an organization that is driven more deliberatively by strategic intent, an organization that is proactive, not just reactive.

The bottom line is that, in our shipbuilding program as elsewhere in our mission support organization, we have set the right course for the future. We have linked acquisition and sustainment. We have instilled discipline in our processes and procedures. I have every confidence in our people and their capabilities to deliver the quality products that the Coast Guard requires to meet its mission requirements into the 21st century and beyond.