The Navy recently awarded a $1.7 billion contract as part of the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program to expand Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. (U.S. Navy photo by Jim Cleveland/Released)

This report was updated Sept. 30 at 4:12 p.m. ET to add a Navy statement and to clarify NAVSEA’s role in managing the SIOP.

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon today announced Rear Adm. Troy McClelland will become program executive officer for Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization (PEO SIOP), a new position that elevates the most senior billet in that effort to the flag officer level.

McClelland is currently serving as deputy commander for Naval Facilities Engineering Systems (NAVFAC).

SIOP is a $20 billion effort spread out over two decades to revitalize the service’s four public shipyards. It was initiated in 2018 by then-Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.

The optimization operation has been primarily housed at Naval Sea Systems Command but receives support from NAVFAC and Navy Installations Command — both of which are overseen by flag officers. But establishing the effort as its own PEO, along with a dedicated senior officer, both elevates its position within the Navy and increases the program’s ability to influence budget decisions.

Rear Adm. Troy McClelland (U.S. Navy)

The service’s announcement comes as members of Congress are asking much more probing questions of senior Navy brass about the SIOP. Expect the elevation to a PEO and direct oversight from an admiral to become a talking point for Navy leadership as they continue field questions about potential cost overruns.

Subsequent to this story’s publication, Bill Couch, a Navy spokesman, told Breaking Defense that NAVFAC, rather than NAVSEA, will take the lead for the SIOP’s execution and report directly to the Navy’s acquisition executive.

McClelland’s appointment as the program executive officer “ensures that this once-in-a-generation recapitalization effort has the necessary discipline and synchronization in defining and executing the multiple major construction efforts within SIOP while maintaining uninterrupted support to the fleet,” said Couch.

Through a statement from Couch, Rear Adm. John Korka, NAVFAC commander and Navy chief of civil engineers, said, “I am pleased with Rear Adm. McClelland’s appointment as PEO (SIOP), and I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead this joint team of dedicated people from NAVFAC, Naval Sea Systems Command, and Navy Installations Command in executing this program.”

In addition to McClelland’s new assignment, the Pentagon statement today also announced the reassignment of several admirals who will lead the Navy’s newly structured submarine acquisition directorate.