United States Government Accountability Office Report to Congressional Committees December 2020 COAST GUARD Actions Needed to Improve National Vessel Documentation Center Operations Accessible Version GAO-21-100 December 2020 GAO Highlights COAST GUARD Highlights of GAO-21-100, a report to Actions Needed to Improve National Vessel congressional committees Documentation Center Operations Why GAO Did This Study What GAO Found In fiscal year 2019, the NVDC In recent years, the Coast Guard’s National Vessel Documentation Center documented about 230,000 vessels (NVDC) met workload demands for timely processing of commercial vessel for commercial and recreational documentation, but not for recreational vessel documentation. From January purposes in U.S. waters. The Coast 2015 through September 2019, its recreational documentation processing time Guard requires owners of certain- averaged 57 days—about 4 times longer than its 15-day informal target (see fig.). sized commercial vessels to obtain vessel documentation—a form of · NVDC officials attributed the current backlogs to performance issues with the vessel registration—through the Coast Guard’s information technology system for managing vessel NVDC. Vessel documentation is documentation. For example, officials stated that there were periods where optional for owners of recreational system performance issues left only about 11 percent of NVDC staff able to vessels of 5 or more net tons access the system, limiting their ability to meet their workload demands. (generally longer than 26 feet), and · The Coast Guard has generally not conducted operational analyses of its many do so to secure a mortgage for vessel documentation system since 2012. Such analyses are required financing. In 2017, GAO reported that annually for information technology systems to help ensure they perform as the NVDC faced backlogs in intended. By developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure processing recreational vessel the Coast Guard conducts required operational analyses for the system, it documentation. will better ensure that potential system performance issues are being The Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard addressed on a timely basis. Authorization Act of 2018 includes a provision for GAO to review NVDC’s Coast Guard National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC) Processing Time for Issuing operations. This report examines, Recreational Vessel Documentation, January 2015 through September 2019 among other objectives, the extent that the Coast Guard (1) met its NVDC workload demands and (2) measured NVDC’s effectiveness in processing vessel documentation. GAO analyzed Coast Guard vessel documentation processing data for fiscal years 2015 through 2019 and information on its system used to process vessel documentation. GAO also interviewed cognizant Coast Guard officials. What GAO Recommends GAO is making seven recommendations to the Coast Data table for Coast Guard National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC) Processing Time Guard, including that it develop and for Issuing Recreational Vessel Documentation, January 2015 through September 2019 implement policies and procedures Date Recreation reissues for conducting operational analyses for its vessel documentation system, 2-Jan-15 -- and establish formal organizational 9-Jan-15 73 performance targets for NVDC’s 16-Jan-15 73 vessel documentation activities. The Coast Guard concurred with GAO’s 23-Jan-15 72 recommendations. 30-Jan-15 74 View GAO-21-100. For more information, 6-Feb-15 75 contact Nathan Anderson at (206) 287-4804 or [email protected]. United States Government Accountability Office Date Recreation reissues 13-Feb-15 75 20-Feb-15 75 27-Feb-15 75 6-Mar-15 75 13-Mar-15 71 20-Mar-15 68 27-Mar-15 73 3-Apr-15 60 10-Apr-15 58 17-Apr-15 58 24-Apr-15 55 1-May-15 52 8-May-15 55 15-May-15 60 22-May-15 65 29-May-15 69 5-Jun-15 72 12-Jun-15 75 19-Jun-15 77 26-Jun-15 77 3-Jul-15 77 10-Jul-15 78 17-Jul-15 80 24-Jul-15 79 31-Jul-15 80 7-Aug-15 81 14-Aug-15 81 21-Aug-15 78 28-Aug-15 77 4-Sep-15 76 11-Sep-15 79 18-Sep-15 81 25-Sep-15 79 2-Oct-15 79 9-Oct-15 79 16-Oct-15 79 23-Oct-15 78 30-Oct-15 79 6-Nov-15 79 13-Nov-15 79 20-Nov-15 82 27-Nov-15 81 4-Dec-15 80 11-Dec-15 77 18-Dec-15 77 Date Recreation reissues 24-Dec-15 77 31-Dec-15 79 8-Jan-16 78 15-Jan-16 77 22-Jan-16 75 29-Jan-16 80 5-Feb-16 79 12-Feb-16 71 19-Feb-16 67 26-Feb-16 65 4-Mar-16 57 11-Mar-16 52 18-Mar-16 48 25-Mar-16 44 1-Apr-16 39 8-Apr-16 36 15-Apr-16 35 29-Apr-16 32 6-May-16 31 13-May-16 30 20-May-16 30 27-May-16 30 3-Jun-16 33 10-Jun-16 31 17-Jun-16 33 24-Jun-16 34 1-Jul-16 35 8-Jul-16 36 15-Jul-16 38 22-Jul-16 39 29-Jul-16 41 5-Aug-16 42 12-Aug-16 44 19-Aug-16 46 26-Aug-16 46 2-Sep-16 48 10-Sep-16 49 16-Sep-16 50 23-Sep-16 53 30-Sep-16 55 7-Oct-16 57 14-Oct-16 59 21-Oct-16 62 28-Oct-16 63 4-Nov-16 66 Date Recreation reissues 11-Nov-16 68 18-Nov-16 72 25-Nov-16 75 2-Dec-16 76 9-Dec-16 77 16-Dec-16 79 23-Dec-16 80 30-Dec-16 81 6-Jan-17 80 13-Jan-17 77 20-Jan-17 74 27-Jan-17 70 3-Feb-17 65 10-Feb-17 61 17-Feb-17 56 24-Feb-17 55 3-Mar-17 53 10-Mar-17 46 17-Mar-17 44 24-Mar-17 41 31-Mar-17 40 7-Apr-17 39 14-Apr-17 39 21-Apr-17 41 28-Apr-17 40 5-May-17 41 12-May-17 41 19-May-17 40 26-May-17 40 2-Jun-17 43 9-Jun-17 43 16-Jun-17 46 23-Jun-17 47 30-Jun-17 49 7-Jul-17 50 14-Jul-17 52 21-Jul-17 53 28-Jul-17 56 4-Aug-17 58 11-Aug-17 58 18-Aug-17 59 25-Aug-17 62 1-Sep-17 62 8-Sep-17 64 15-Sep-17 65 Date Recreation reissues 29-Sep-17 65 6-Oct-17 64 13-Oct-17 66 20-Oct-17 65 27-Oct-17 63 3-Nov-17 63 10-Nov-17 63 17-Nov-17 62 24-Nov-17 64 1-Dec-17 60 8-Dec-17 56 15-Dec-17 53 22-Dec-17 55 29-Dec-17 55 5-Jan-18 52 12-Jan-18 50 19-Jan-18 47 26-Jan-18 43 2-Feb-18 39 9-Feb-18 38 16-Feb-18 40 23-Feb-18 37 2-Mar-18 36 9-Mar-18 34 16-Mar-18 39 23-Mar-18 33 30-Mar-18 32 6-Apr-18 32 13-Apr-18 32 20-Apr-18 31 27-Apr-18 32 4-May-18 32 11-May-18 33 18-May-18 33 25-May-18 33 1-Jun-18 34 8-Jun-18 36 15-Jun-18 35 22-Jun-18 37 29-Jun-18 37 6-Jul-18 38 13-Jul-18 42 20-Jul-18 39 27-Jul-18 39 3-Aug-18 41 Date Recreation reissues 10-Aug-18 42 17-Aug-18 44 24-Aug-18 44 31-Aug-18 44 7-Sep-18 44 14-Sep-18 44 21-Sep-18 44 28-Sep-18 44 5-Oct-18 44 12-Oct-18 44 19-Oct-18 43 26-Oct-18 44 2-Nov-18 46 9-Nov-18 44 16-Nov-18 23-Nov-18 47 30-Nov-18 52 7-Dec-18 47 14-Dec-18 47 21-Dec-18 48 28-Dec-18 50 4-Jan-19 11-Jan-19 18-Jan-19 25-Jan-19 52 1-Feb-19 54 8-Feb-19 53 15-Feb-19 52 22-Feb-19 54 1-Mar-19 55 8-Mar-19 53 15-Mar-19 54 22-Mar-19 53 29-Mar-19 50 5-Apr-19 45 12-Apr-19 44 19-Apr-19 44 26-Apr-19 43 3-May-19 10-May-19 48 17-May-19 48 24-May-19 50 31-May-19 54 7-Jun-19 57 14-Jun-19 54 Date Recreation reissues 21-Jun-19 56 28-Jun-19 61 5-Jul-19 65 12-Jul-19 70 19-Jul-19 75 26-Jul-19 76 2-Aug-19 83 9-Aug-19 75 16-Aug-19 76 23-Aug-19 76 30-Aug-19 77 6-Sep-19 77 13-Sep-19 78 20-Sep-19 78 27-Sep-19 78 Note: Recreational reissue—which refers to applications from recreational vessel owners to change owners or the vessel’s hailing port—is the most common type of recreational vessel documentation. The gaps in the figure during 2018 and 2019 are due to the system used to generate the data being unavailable for those points in time. The Coast Guard has not measured the NVDC’s effectiveness in processing vessel documentation. The service requires its units to report their performance to leadership. However, the NVDC uses an informal target to measure staff timeliness in processing documentation.