GovernmentExecutive.com

The Coast Guard is weathering software glitches in its efforts to roll out a new modernized communication system by 2006.

"The software, which ties it all together ... has been a significant challenge for us and the contractor," said Cmdr. Ed Thiedman, assistant program manager for the project. "We have been focusing on immediate issues at hand ... as we get closer, we will start talking about full production completion by 2006 and if that is attainable."

In September 2002, the Coast Guard awarded a contract to General Dynamics Decision Systems division to develop and implement a modernized communication system called Rescue 21. Under the agreement, two initial Coast Guard locations were to test with "full functionality" the software system by September of this year, according to a General Accounting Office report issued in late September.

In July, the Coast Guard postponed the testing due to software problems with integrating commercial technologies into a software package that would enhance the agency's capability to assist and find boaters in distress, among other activities, said Thiedman.

He also said while the agency and General Dynamics delayed testing in September, it had met "all of the milestones" up until then.

However, the GAO reported the agency has been postponing formal qualification testing and subsequent testing since early 2003, because General Dynamics "had taken longer than expected to obtain developers and subcontractors" for Rescue 21 and software development "continues to take longer than planned."

Rescue 21, which has been in the works since 1997, is to be a short-range communication system with VHF-FM radios, communication towers as well as hardware and software at operation centers. The current system - much of which was installed in the 1970s - has several critical deficiencies, said GAO, including gaps in radio coverage, limited direction-finding technology, no digital calling capability, limited interoperability with other systems and no means to secure communication.

The new initiative would allow officials to digitally call on enhanced radio bands, meet interoperability standards to allow communication with other federal and state officials as well as include direction finding, tracking and encryption technology.

In its report, GAO warned the agency that Rescue 21 might not work as specified, because the agency has been compressing and overlapping schedules for testing the technologies.

"When you overlap and compress testing, there is greater risk that you will not test the system to the full extent nor do you have time to resolve defects in software that would be uncovered," GAO's David Powner said in an interview about the report.

Thiedman said the agency is following GAO's recommendation to establish a new schedule for testing and is negotiating with General Dynamics on its timeline. Other factors such as acquiring antenna sites and meeting environmental laws also may delay the schedule, he said.

The Coast Guard has received $182.4 million for the project through fiscal 2003, and the projected funding through fiscal 2007 is expected to reach $569.2 million, according to GAO.