Coast Guard: Additional Actions Needed to Guide Training and Assessment Efforts
Fast Facts
The Coast Guard carries out varied duties, including Arctic patrols, cybersecurity, and trying to stop illegal fishing in the Western Hemisphere. Its training command delivered more than 400 unique training courses to more than 23,000 Coast Guard students in FY 2023.
We found the Coast Guard for the most part followed sound practices when developing, implementing, and evaluating its training. However, it could improve how it measures the effectiveness of training and do more to ensure courses are regularly reviewed and keeping up with changing conditions. Our recommendations address these issues and more.
A Coast Guard weapon training system
Highlights
What GAO Found
Force Readiness Command (FORCECOM) is responsible for a wide range of Coast Guard training programs. FORCECOM uses an established model for developing, implementing, and evaluating its training. GAO found that FORCECOM generally addressed five of seven leading practices for federal training efforts. However, FORCECOM did not fully address the remaining two: to ensure that 1) measures of effectiveness are included in training and 2) training is evaluated. Specifically, FORCECOM develops learning objectives for each course describing knowledge and skills to apply on the job. Training centers are to review these learning objectives to keep up with changing conditions, but FORCECOM does not have accurate data on the date when a course was last reviewed. For example, 63 percent of course review dates for fiscal year 2023 that GAO reviewed were blank. FORCECOM also has outdated guidance for evaluating the long-term effectiveness of its training programs. Fully addressing these two leading practices will help FORCECOM's efforts to ensure its training is effectively preparing the Coast Guard workforce to meet mission demands.
Training Boat and Vessel Fire Simulator at a Coast Guard Training Center
FORCECOM has taken steps to update training for emerging mission demands, such as cybersecurity, and modernize its training efforts. When program offices identify a need for training, FORCECOM works with them to develop solutions. For example, FORCECOM has developed online cybersecurity trainings to address a knowledge gap among the Coast Guard's marine inspectors. FORCECOM has also taken steps to modernize its training enterprise—for example, by expanding the use of virtual reality in certain trainings.
FORCECOM has a long-standing assessment program to evaluate Coast Guard units' compliance with policies and procedures. FORCECOM is updating the program to gain more transparency into each unit's compliance status. For example, FORCECOM has created a data dashboard to centralize all the assessment program data. However, FORCECOM does not have a detailed, written project plan for fully developing and implementing the dashboard. Creating a plan to develop and implement the data dashboard would help guide FORCECOM's efforts to increase assessment program compliance.
Why GAO Did This Study
In recent years, the Coast Guard has increasingly focused on emerging mission demands such as Arctic operations and cybersecurity. Meeting these mission demands requires enhanced skills and training for the Coast Guard workforce. Within the Coast Guard, FORCECOM is responsible for developing training for Coast Guard programs to meet these and other demands, and for assessing units' compliance with policies and procedures.
The James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 includes a provision for GAO to review FORCECOM's efforts to train and assess the Coast Guard workforce.
This report examines 1) the extent that FORCECOM has addressed leading practices in its training efforts; 2) how FORCECOM has updated training to meet certain emerging mission demands; and 3) the extent that FORCECOM has assessed Coast Guard units' compliance with policy.
GAO analyzed Coast Guard documentation and data on FORCECOM's training and assessment activities. GAO also interviewed Coast Guard officials, including officials at several training centers.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that FORCECOM (1) ensure the accuracy of certain training data, (2) assess its guidelines on course evaluations, and (3) develop a project plan to develop and implement its data dashboard. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with these recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of FORCECOM documents and implements an approach for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of training center data on triennial course review requirements. (Recommendation 1) |
DHS concurred and described its plans to address this recommendation. For example, FORCECOM plans to integrate all of the Coast Guard's training centers into its Continuous Improvement Cycle dashboard--a tool for tracking key training data. FORCECOM also plans to create a framework for its training policies to document its approach to ensuring accountability for maintaining accurate and complete training data by October 2026. In April 2025, DHS told us that FORCECOM fully integrated two of its training centers into the CIC dashboard and is on track to integrate all remaining training centers and complete its new training policy framework, also by October 2026. We will continue to monitor DHS's efforts to address this recommendation and provide updates as needed.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of FORCECOM assesses whether FORCECOM's Level 3 evaluation guidelines are reasonable for training centers and considers whether new guidelines could provide more useful data. (Recommendation 2) |
DHS concurred and described its plans to address this recommendation. For example, FORCECOM plans to revise its standard operating procedures for conducting training evaluations, including Level 3 evaluations, to ensure that its guidelines address leading practices. FORCECOM also plans to create a framework for its training policies to provide greater accountability over training data, including course evaluations. DHS stated that FORCECOM plans to complete these efforts by January 2026 and October 2026, respectively. In April 2025, DHS told us that FORCECOM is on track to complete these efforts within the planned timeframes. We will continue to monitor DHS's efforts to address this recommendation and provide updates as needed.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure that the Commander of FORCECOM develops a written project plan for developing and implementing the assessment program's dashboard, including key items such as project goals, work activities, timeline for completion, and interim milestones. (Recommendation 3) |
In October 2024, we reported on the training and assessment efforts of Force Readiness Command (FORCECOM), the Coast Guard's entity responsible for training its workforce and evaluating units' compliance with policies and procedures. We found that FORCECOM had an established assessment program for evaluating unit compliance and was taking steps to improve the assessment program. However, FORCECOM did not have a detailed project plan for one of its key improvement efforts-an assessment program data dashboard. We recommended that the Coast Guard develop a written plan, in line with leading practices for project management, to include its data dashboard project goals, work activities, time frames, and interim milestones to monitor the progress of its efforts. In response to our recommendation, FORCECOM developed its business plan in March 2025. The plan describes project goals, such as a filtered dashboard display of unit compliance at various levels of command that will facilitate greater transparency regarding Coast Guard units' readiness. The plan also describes work activities, interim milestones, and time frames associated with FORCECOM's efforts. For example, FORCECOM described an interim milestone to develop and deploy modernized assessment forms that will streamline data entry into the assessment dashboard. FORCECOM's plan also describes plans to incorporate compliance data into its assessment dashboard for most of its assessment areas by October 2025. By developing a written plan that documents its project goals, work activities, time frames, and interim milestones, the Coast Guard is better positioned to improve units' compliance with policies and procedures.
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