Austal LCS 8 to homeport in SD

SAN DIEGO - The Navy will homeport two future Littoral Combat Ships – including the Gulf Coast-built USS Montgomery (LCS 8) - at Naval Base San Diego next summer. USS Detroit (LCS 7) is a Freedom-class ship and is being built at Marinette (Wis.) Marine. Montgomery is an Independence-class LCS under construction at Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. Stationing the LCS at a West Coast port supports the Navy’s rebalance of ships for the Asia-Pacific region. By 2020, about 60 percent of ships and aircraft will be based in that region. (Source: Navy News Service 12/23/15)

Pensacola port contractor owes city

The Port of Pensacola, Fla.’s principal tenant, Offshore Inland, owes the city more than $300,000, and is also 60 days late in paying docking fees. OI is an oil and gas industry contractor that brings in large ships to dock at the port for refitting and maintenance work. The issue has to do with promised reimbursements by the state and city to Offshore Inland for improvements to the port’s Warehouse 1t. OI made improvements early this year, but the contract work was not bid, and raised questions at City Hall as to whether the project was still eligible for reimbursement. Pensacola is considering granting OI interim credit for warehouse improvement - worth about the same as the firm owes in docking fees – until the issue is resolved. (Source: Pensacola News Journal 12/23/15)

Contract: Austal, $51.7M

Austal USA LLC., Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $51,684,797 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-2301) for Core Littoral Combat Ship class services and LCS class services for the LCS program. Austal USA will assess engineering and production challenges and evaluate the cost and schedule risks from affordability efforts to reduce LCS acquisition costs. Work will be performed in Pittsfield, Mass. (60 percent) and Mobile (40 percent) and is expected to be complete by December 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/21/15)

Navy PC earns 1% of LCS mod pact

CACI Technologies of Virginia was awarded a $12,895,607 Naval Sea Systems Command modification to a previous contract for professional services in support of the Littoral Combat Ship program office. Ninety-one percent of the work will be in Washington, D.C. One percent of the work will be at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City. Work is expected to be completed by February 2016. (Source: DOD 12/18/15)

Contract: HII, $34.8M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $34,846,586 cost-plus-fixed fee contract for life cycle engineering and support services for the LPD 17 Class Amphibious Transport Dock Ship program. The services include: post-delivery planning and engineering, homeport technical support, class integrated product data environment, data maintenance and equipment management, systems integration and engineering support, LPD 17 class design services, research engineering, obsolescence management, class material readiness, emergent repair provision, training and logistics support, ship alteration development and installation, material management, operating cycle integration, availability planning, and configuration data management. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $242,000,000. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by December 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-2415). (Source: DoD, 12/16/15)

Contract: Raytheon, $28.4M

Raytheon Co. Integrated Defense Systems, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $28,390,942 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-2414 to exercise Option Year 1 for life cycle engineering and support (LCES&S) services for Landing Platform Dock (LPD) 17 Class integrated shipboard electronic systems. The services to be provided will include: LCE&S Services including post-delivery planning, logistics and engineering; homeport technical support; integrated product data environment; data maintenance, equipment management, systems integration and design engineering; software support, research engineering, obsolescence management (both technical and logistics), material readiness support, emergent repair planning, training and logistics support; planning yard support of integrated electronic systems including Fleet Modernization program planning; ship alteration development and installation; material management; configuration data management; research engineering; logistics documentation; and other logistics and executing activity coordination, management; sustaining engineering and obsolescence management support for unique LPD 17 Class integrated shipboard electronic systems. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (90 percent); Norfolk, Va. (4 percent); Pascagoula, Miss. (2 percent); Mayport, Fla. (2 Percent); and Japan (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/15/15)

DDG 114 launched

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- The future destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) was launched from Ingalls Shipbuilding agoula, Miss., Dec. 12 and into drydock. "This is an exciting milestone," said Capt. Mark Vandroff, DDG 51 class program manager, in a Dec. 14 news release. The destroyer will be equipped with Aegis Baseline 9, designed to incorporate and enhance ballistic missile defense capabilities. DDG 114 will be the 64th Arleigh Burke class destroyer and the 30th built in Pascagoula. (Source: Seapower magazine 12/14/15)

LCS 5 breaks down

The Navy’s newest ship broke down only 20 days after being commissioned Nov. 21. USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) broke down Dec. 11 and was towed 40-plus miles to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Va., while on the way to its new home port in San Diego. Initial indications are that fine metal debris collected in the lube oil filter caused the system to shut down. Crew 104 was scheduled to swap with Crew 108 at Mayport, Fla., but will not swap in Virginia while the ship is under repair. U.S. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Navy Times that the plant issues were “deeply alarming.” (Source: Navy Times 12/12/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding/Maritime Note: Marinette (Wis.) Marine Shipyard builds odd-number LCS hulls. Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., builds the even-number hulls and a different variant of LCS.

BIW votes today on competitiveness

AUGUSTA, Maine – Machinists Union Local S6 is casting votes Sunday (Dec. 13) on a proposed four-year contract at Bath (Maine) Iron Works shipyard that management says is for future competitiveness. BIW has pressed for early negotiations – since the contract does not expire until May 22 - aimed at winning union concessions deemed necessary to be competitive on a crucial bid in early 2016 for Coast Guard cutters. BIW initiated early discussions before the CG bid comes up for 25 offshore patrol cutters. BIW had warned that some 1,200 jobs could be lost if the yard fails to land the contract. A rejection of the proposal does not mean there will be a work stoppage. (Source: The Associated Press 12/12/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding/Maritime Note: Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Fla., and Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., are also tentatively scheduled to bid on the CG contract. BIW hasn’t built a CG ship since the 1930s. Bollinger won a previous completion in 2008 over BIW on a smaller CG contract.

UPDATE: The BIW union narrowly approved a four-year contract Dec. 13 that contains provisions aimed at making the shipyard more efficient before bids are submitted in May on a CG cutter contract. Later this year, BIW will also be bidding against Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Miss., for additional Navy destroyers.

Contract: Multiple, $67.2M

General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Va. (N00189-16-D-0001); Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Va. (N00189-16-D-0002); and URS Federal Services Inc., Germantown, Md. (N00189-16-D-0005), are being awarded a $67,247,081 multiple task order, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence; surface ship anti-submarine warfare; surface ship undersea warfare; surface ship mine warfare systems, and combat systems engineering, analytical, logistics, and technical support to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center. Each contract includes a 12-month base period and a one-year option period. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Va. (85 percent); in the continental U.S. (San Diego, Calif.; Mayport, Fla.; Pascagoula, Miss.; Groton, Conn.; Bremerton, Wash.; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii) (10 percent); and out of the continental U.S. (Spain, Italy, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Guam) (5 percent). Work is expected to be completed by December 2016; if all options are exercised, work will be completed by December 2017. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Norfolk, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/08/15)

Contract: Ingalls, $200M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $200,000,000 not-to-exceed undefinitized contract action for LPD 28 long-lead-time material, and associated engineering and design activities. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by April 2022. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 6.302-1(a)(ii) - this procurement is deemed to be a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a major system that is available only from the original source. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-16-C-2431). (Source: DoD, 12/04/15)

LCS 6 to be commissioned

The Navy will commission its newest Independence-class littoral combat ship, USS Jackson (LCS 6), during a 10 CST ceremony Saturday, Dec. 5 in Gulfport, Miss. Jackson honors the city of Jackson, Miss., which was named for Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus will deliver the ceremony's principal address. The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant built by Lockheed Martin with odd-numbered hulls, and the Independence variant built by Austal USA with even-numbered hulls. (Source: DoD, 12/04/15)

Vessel charters pre-solicitation

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Fla., intends to solicit offers from qualified contractors for the chartering of vessels in support of compelling and emergent test requirements for Littoral combat and Expeditionary Warfare systems in the Gulf of Mexico. NSWC’s statement of work specifies requirements for the chartering of test support vessels; and anticipates up to three contract awards. The contract is anticipated for a total of two years, with a single 12-month base period, and 12-month option. The federal government will reserve the right to consider a small business set-aside. A pre-solicitation conference regarding the proposed contract will be Dec. 9 at the La Quinta Inn & Suites on Panama City Beach from 8-10 a.m. (Source: Fed Biz Ops 12/01/15)

GoM plan to manage HAB

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association (GCOOS-RA) has a plan that is designed to help protect humans and marine life from the negative impacts caused by harmful algal blooms (HABs). The goal of the plan is to establish a sustained observing system to support and enhance HAB management and monitoring, and reducing and mitigating harmful impacts that HABs have on human health, marine organisms and coastal communities. (Source: Newswire 12/03/15) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: The Gulf of Mexico’s (GoM) better known harmful algae is called Karenia brevis. It causes Red Tides in several Gulf Coast states. It is currently impacting the Panhandle, central and southwest coasts of Florida.

Top FMC Seabee to retire

WASHINGTON - Naval Base Ventura County (Calif.) Command Master Chief Percy Trent Jr. was selected to become the 17th force master chief of the Seabees at a Dec. 1 ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard. Trent will assume the duties of the highest ranking enlisted Seabee in March 2016 from Seabee Force Master Chief Christopher Levesque, who retires in June. (Source: Navy News Service 12/02/15) Gulf Coast Maritime Note: Prior to taking the reigns of force master chief in January 2014, Levesque served as command master chief of the Naval Construction Training Center in Gulfport, Miss.

Contract: Lockheed, $49.1M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $49,107,093 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-C-5104 to exercise option year two for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS Baselines through Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 12. The contract provides for Aegis shipboard integration engineering, Aegis test team support, Aegis modernization team engineering support, ballistic missile defense test team support, and AWS element assessments. This contract will cover the AWS ship integration and test efforts for five new construction DDG 51 class ships, and the major modernization of five DDG 51 class ships. It will additionally cover the integrated combat system modifications and upgrades for all current ships with all AWS baselines up to and including ACB 12. Work will be performed in Camden, N.J. (24 percent); Pascagoula, Miss. (24 percent); Bath, Maine (23 percent); San Diego, Calif. (12 percent); Norfolk, Va. (10 percent); Moorestown, N.J. (4 percent); and various places below one percent (3 percent), and is expected to be complete by November 2018. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 12/01/15)

LCS commissioning in Gulfport

Gulfport, Miss. will be the site of a Dec. 6 commissioning ceremony for the newest Littoral Combat Ship, USS Jackson. The ceremony will be at the Port of Gulfport on Saturday at 10 a.m. Officials expect more than 2,000 attendees including former Mississippi governor and current Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Tickets to the event are free but must be picked up at Gulfport City Hall. (Source: WXXV-TV 11/30/15)

Navy football to highlight LCS

The U.S. Naval Academy football team will wear Under Armour-designed “Navy Fleet” uniforms and hand-painted helmets for the Army-Navy game Dec. 12. The uniform is inspired to pay homage to seven ships with the Navy’s fleet. Each ship is detailed on one of seven hand-painted helmets that each player will wear, assigned by position. The Littoral Combat Ship, which Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., builds one variant, will appear on the helmets of Navy running backs. Additionally, the rally cry “Damn the Torpedoes!” is featured on the uniform as a nod to Fleet Adm. David Farragut’s historic Civil War victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. The game is to be carried live at 2 p.m. on CBS from the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Source: Yellowhammer 12/01/15)