RESCUE 21 Business Case Summary

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jimh
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RESCUE 21 Business Case Summary

Postby jimh » Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:10 am

By visiting the USA government website ITDASHBOARD.GOV, choosing to browse by agency, choosing the Department of Homeland Security agency, choosing individual investments, and filtering by Coast Guard, you can find an analysis of the RESCUE 21 project. Here is a link to that resource:

https://www.itdashboard.gov/drupal/summary/024/024-000006079

From that webpage you can also download a PDF file that presents a "business case" analysis of the costs and benefits. (Below I attach the PDF I downloaded this morning.) The report is written for a reader who is apparently familiar with a very large number of acronyms in use by the government, and the acronyms are often not explained. I will translate a few sections of the report into normal speech without incessant use of acronyms and ampersands:

--begin translated text from report---

1. Briefly describe the investment’s purpose, goals, and current or anticipated benefits (quantitative and/or qualitative). Include the investment’s specific contribution to mission delivery or agency management support functions, and identify key customers, stakeholders, and other beneficiaries.

[RESCUE 21 (R21) is a] Command, Control, and Communications system that improves mission execution in the coastal zone. [R21 is] essential to meet Search and Rescue program goals. [R21] results in improved response to distress calls, and better coordination and interoperability with [other government agencies] and first responders.

2. Briefly describe the investment’s return on investment, including benefits internal and external to the government and outcomes achieved or planned.

The R21 Return on Investment (ROI) was determined by a Cost Analysis dated March 2005; the cost analysis demonstrated a ROI of 3.05 and a payback period of 13 years.

In determining the ROI, the R21 Key Decision Point (KDP) 1 was completed in July 1995 and authorized entry into the program’s Concept and Technology Demonstration phase under the authority of Department of Transportation.

In August 1999, KDP2 authorized the program to proceed into the Capability Development and Demonstration phase.

In August 2001, the Coast Guard awarded three R21 Phase I contracts to competing contractors to develop proposed system designs.

The Phase I proposals were reviewed in late 2001 and the Phase II production contract Request For Proposal was issued in February 2002.

Following a formal source selection process, the USCG’s Source Selection Official (SSO) awarded the R21 Phase II production contract to General Dynamics C4 Systems in September 2002.

In July 2005, the Department of Homeland Security authorized the R21 program to proceed into the Production and Deployment phase, and full rate production subsequently commenced in September 2005.

Internal Benefits: R21 is used to tailor Coast Guard response (including coordinating with local first responders and federal coordinators), significantly reducing response time to mariners in distress. The R21 system enhances the Coast Guard’s ability to detect and respond to distress calls in the coastal zone, which directly benefits the U.S. public’s marine safety and saves lives.

Benefits also include system disaster recovery capabilities that have supported coordination in numerous federals regional response and remediation efforts by providing a critical communication backbone in the disaster regions. For example, the R21 system provided a communication system that supported efforts to re-open ports in New York and New Jersey after hurricane Sandy.

External Benefits of the R21 system:

    --provides capabilities to help ensure the successful outcome of Search and Rescue (SAR) missions. By May 2017, R21 has been used in more than 94,730 SAR cases;

    --[provides] advanced radio direction finding which more accurately identifies the location of callers with lines of bearing to the VHF radio transmission source which reduces response time and search area;

    --[provides] continuous, enhanced VHF-FM marine radio coverage out to 20 nautical miles from shore;

    --[provides] improved ability to identify suspected hoax calls; Increases the number of voice channels;

    --[provides] digital voice recording with immediate playback; [provides] timely flow of info between Coast Guard and other stakeholders.

The R21 investment is slated to reach the breakeven point in 2018.

3. Provide specific requirements for this Investment (i.e. legislative mandates, outstanding audit findings or material weakness, Presidential Directive) and how this Investment will meet the requirement. Additionally, provide any applicable URLs to associated requirements.

Maritime Transportation Security ACT of 2002 (Pubic Law 107-295) Section 346: The R21 investment is derived from the Maritime Transportation Security ACT (MTSA) of 2002( Public Law 107-295) Section 346.

R21 is a Department of Homeland Security Level 1 Command, Control, and Communications (C3) system capital investment that replaced the Coast Guard's antiquated legacy National Distress and Response Systems (NDRS) and greatly enhances the Coast Guard's ability to execute missions in the coastal zone and is essential to meet the Service's search and rescue mission-program performance goals.

Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA): R21 is FISMA compliant and has programs planned or in progress to maintain the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information system. FISMA driven programs include an operating system upgrade, [Very Small Aperture Terminal/ 4th Generation] wide-area network redundancy and ongoing obsolescence management.

4. Identify the foremost program supported by this investment, using the Program Code in the Federal Program Inventory Reference Table (bottom of list on the right side of the screen). If this investment does not primarily support a single program (e.g. provides Department-wide infrastructure, or supports multiple programs evenly), enter “No Primary Program.” [XXX-XXX or “000-000” for “No Primary
Program”]


024-036 : Maritime Response

5. Does this investment include a shared service (intra-or inter-agency—current
and/or planned):


YES

--end translated version---

The business analysis also present financial information about expenditures. The most interesting of these data is excerpted below with translation of acronyms:

--
Total Cost (Including Internal Labor (Government Full-time equivalent):
Fiscal-year One and prior = $1,402.045000
Ficscal-year 2017 = $90.981000
--

These figures are in decimal-millions-US-dollars, so "$1,402.045000" means "$1,402,0450,000, or $1.4-billion spent prior and " $90.981000" means $90,981,000 spent in fiscal-year-2017.
Attachments
USCG_Recue21_024-000006079.pdf
(105.17 KiB) Downloaded 380 times

jimh
Posts: 11673
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: RESCUE 21 Business Case Summary

Postby jimh » Sun Feb 04, 2018 11:43 am

I have also downloaded this same business case analysis in an earlier version. The reply to the first question was a bit longer in that version. Here I excerpt and translate again:

--begin translated excerpt---

1. Briefly describe the investment’s purpose, goals, and current or anticipated benefits (quantitative and/or qualitative). Include the investment’s specific contribution to mission delivery or agency management support functions and identify key customers, stakeholders, and other beneficiaries.

Purpose: The R21 system is an advanced command, control, and communications system that greatly enhance the Coast Guard’s ability to execute missions in the coastal zone; the system is essential [to] meeting the Coast Guards Search and Rescue (SAR) mission-program performance goals. The investment is contributing in a positive manner by better locating mariners in distress, saving lives, and saving property at sea by providing increased communications coverage and incorporating advanced Direction Finding (DF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radio Digital Selective Calling (DSC) capabilities.

R21 significantly increases the ability to detect and respond to marine distress calls in the coastal zone, resulting in marine safety benefits to all stakeholders (Internal/External);

The key customers and significant beneficiaries of this system are:
    --U.S. public
    --Coast Guard operators
    --boating public
    --Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary for Management
    --U.S. Congress
    --other federal, state, and local maritime operators,
    --emergency response and law enforcement units/agencies

Benefits/Stakeholders: The Program stakeholders include

    --Coast Guard operators,
    --the boating public,
    --DHS Undersecretary for Management,
    --the U.S. Congress,
    --and other federal, state and local maritime operators, emergency response and law enforcement units/agencies.

As of June 2016, the deployed R21 coastal system has supported over 89,000 SAR cases and has allowed the nation to fulfill Global Maritime Distress and Safety System requirements.

As of June 30, 2016, the R21 system is deployed and operational over approximately 260,000 square miles of coverage in 32 of 37 Coast Guard Sectors, which were delivered by the prime contractor.

The Coast Guard is the lead system integrator for the remaining five sectors (Western Rivers and Alaska).

R21 Coastal has completed Final Acceptance in all 32 of 32 Coast Guard Sectors.

System implementation continues in three Western Rivers Sectors and two Alaska Sectors, including new remote radio communication consoles, DSC capability, and six new Radio Fixed Facilities (RFFs), three in Western Rivers and three in Alaska.

System testing and deployment continues, leading to transition to full sustainment operations.