Navy awards $1.7B contract to expand Portsmouth shipyard

WASHINGTON: The Navy late last week awarded a $1.7 billion contract to a Nebraska-based construction company to “expand and reconfigure” a dry dock complex at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, as part of a broader reconstruction effort for the service’s shipyard infrastructure.

The contract award to 381 Constructors, of Omaha, Neb., will expand the shipyard’s dry dock, designed for multiple Los-Angeles and Virginia-class submarines as part of the Navy’s 20-year plan to restore its four public shipyards. The work also includes installing new concrete floors, walls, pump systems, caissons “and other mechanical utilities,” according to a Navy statement.

The contract is part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, which aims to spend more than $20 billion over two decades to redesign the four shipyard’s layouts, refresh the equipment and technology available to personnel and ultimately prepare for future Columbia-class submarine and Ford-class aircraft carrier maintenance availabilities. Also called SIOP, the program was started in 2018 and is a joint project between Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command and the Commander of Navy Installations.

“This project — and other work being planned at all four of our naval shipyards — is one of the most significant and direct contributions that our systems command team can make to enable our Navy’s lethality and maximize its readiness for many years to come,” said Rear Adm. John Korka, commander of NAVFAC and Navy chief of civil engineers, in a statement.

The Navy’s struggles with maintenance at the public and private shipyards are well documented. Officials have claimed improvements to the service’s overall maintenance records in recent years, specifically through changes in contracting methods and altering the authorities for lower-level officials to approve on-the-spot, less expensive fixes that are discovered by workers, but were not planned.

But a new issue seems to be surfacing.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., during the July confirmation hearing for Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro described a visit she took with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks to the Portsmouth shipyard. While she praised the work being done, she said the program was at risk of cost overruns.

“What steps do you intend to immediately take to ensure that this project remains on schedule and to address future cost overruns?” the senator asked Del Toro, without speaking more specifically to the exact cost issues.

The then-nominee mostly dodged the question, just emphasizing the importance of the project and the importance to “pay attention” to any issues that arise.