Coast Guard's Deepwater program 'officially dead,' admiral says

A senior Coast Guard official has declared the service's $27 billion "Deepwater" acquisition program is officially dead, both as a concept and as a procurement program, reports Federal Computer Week.

Writing under the headline, “Deepwater R.I.P.” in the agency’s Service Lines publication, Rear Admiral Jake Korn, assistant commandant for acquisition and chief acquisition officer, said the agency’s ambitious but troubled program to modernize its marine and air assets that started in 2002 was now in its final days.

"The time has come for the U.S. Coast Guard to officially drop the Deepwater name from any reference to our acquisition portfolio,” Korn wrote in the report. “The active period of performance for the last line item under the Integrated Coast Guard Systems contract ends in January, and there will be no further work initiated.”

The Coast Guard is moving forward to fulfill its modernization goals in several ongoing asset modernization and replacement efforts, Korn added in the Dec. 8 article.