Scandal in the Coast Guard

I confess I haven't been following the Deepwater scandal in the Coast Guard as closely as some family members have been urging met to. Basically, the CG tried to streamline its bidding process in the production of their next generation of cutters and basically got eaten alive in the process, replete with the $3000 below hull line screen doors and the like. The sad thing is that a number of retired officers were involved in the process and are sure to be tarred with a wide brush now that the issue is going political. Congress has an oversight function it desperately needs to play here; but the Coast Guard is currently in the cross-hairs of the Congressional Black Caucus for its role in the post-Katrina response, mainly because the Coast Guard made Mayor Nagin and Gov. Teary McFoldunderpressure look extremely bad. That, and they had a role in exposing the fraud and financial chicanery of Rep. William Jefferson, who diverted CG assets from search and rescue of human beings to search and rescue of Jefferson's ill-gotten booty.

Anyhoo, Waffles has gotten into the fray, so things might be looking up for the life saving service if his track record is any indication:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Coast Guard has canceled a roughly $600 million deal that's part of a multibillion-dollar modernization contract awarded to a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. But that's not enough for one lawmaker, who introduced a bill on Thursday calling for termination of the existing contracts and for any incomplete projects to be rebid.

A proposal from Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., comes one day after the Coast Guard ended a contract for 12 "fast-response cutters" under its $24 billion program, dubbed Deepwater. The cutter pact was awarded in June 2002 to Integrated Coast Guard Systems, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and has been lambasted in recent Inspector General reports and on Capitol Hill for spiraling costs, design flaws and lax oversight of the contractors.

The cancellation comes about a year after work on the cutters was suspended, due to technical concerns about the original design. A new bid proposal is expected in May with plans to award a new contract by March 2008, Mary Elder, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said Thursday.

Kerry's bill calls for the Coast Guard to rebid remaining portions of the Deepwater contract when it expires in June and calls for more stringent agency oversight. The legislation would allow the Coast Guard to continue working with the current companies on any incomplete systems if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that rebidding it would compromise national security or would cost more with a different contractor.

Coast Guard officials declined comment on the bill and ICGS did not immediately return calls for comment. On Wednesday, the contractors had said the agency's decision to end the cutter deal "has always been an option under the original (contract) terms."

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said the cancellation was made to control costs and get the patrol boats, due for delivery in 2010, in the water as soon as possible. The cancellation does not affect ongoing negotiations with the contractors for other Deepwater work, which includes a deal for 46 related cutters valued at about $2.4 billion.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who chairs the House subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, said he supported Allen's decision but doesn't agree with Kerry's call to rebid the whole deal, which the senator originally called for last month. At that time, Allen said he would prefer to continue working with existing contractors.

The 12 ships included in the current contract are the smallest of the three major classes of cutters in the Deepwater plan and would be used for missions at ports and waterways, for coastal security, fishery patrols, drug and illegal migrant law enforcement, search and rescue, and national defense.

The current contracting team is eligible to bid after the new request for bids comes out in May, but ICGS spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell-Jones said Thursday the companies will wait for bid details before deciding whether to compete.

Shares of Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin dipped 9 cents to close at $98.05, while Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman gained 28 cents to $73.07, both on the New York Stock Exchange.