RFP for DDG-51 scheduled for release

The Navy is preparing to release the request for proposals (RFP) for at least 10 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51). A pre-solicitation notice went out Dec. 14. The RFP is scheduled for release within the next month, according to DDG-51 program manager Capt. Casey Moton. The FY 2018-22 proposal would be written in a flexible way to account for uncertainty in destroyer acquisition rates of the coming years. The five-year contract is planned to be awarded to Ingalls-Pascagoula, Miss., and Bath (Maine) Iron Works by no later than Sept. 30, 2018. This FY18-22 contract would begin with DDG-128. In early 2017, the Navy finalized a deal with HII-Ingalls and BIW to insert the Flight III design upgrade into the end of the current contract, with hull numbers 125 at Ingalls and 126 at BIW being Flight III ships. DDG-127, which Congress added and incrementally paid for in 2016-17 budgets, will be built by Bath in the Flight IIA configuration. “The fact that both builders are on contract for Flight III, we think it positions us well for the next multi-year” contract, Moton said. (Source: USNI News 12/19/17)