The Navy awarded Britain’s BAE Systems two firm-fixed-price contracts for fiscal year 2018 depot modernization period (DMP) availabilities on the USS Howard (DDG-83) and USS Oscar Austin (DDG-79) Arleigh Burke-class destroyers worth a combined $90 million.
A Dec. 26 Defense Department contract announcement said these contracts were awarded on Dec. 22.
The Howard modernization is specified as an almost $48 million Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) availability and is set to include modernization, repair, and maintenance of the ship.
The Navy noted this is a long-term availability and was competed on a West Coast-wide basis without limited performance to the Howard’s homeport of San Diego. The contract had an open competition through the FedBizOpps website, but only BAE made an offer.
The company will provide facilities and human resources necessary to complete, coordinate, and integrate multiple areas of ship maintenance, modernization, and repair in San Diego. This includes hull, mechanical, and electrical repairs as well as upgrades to the combat systems suite on the ship.
The contract includes options that, if exercised, would raise the total value to $66.6 million. The work will take about 15 months to complete and is expected to start this February and be finished by May 2019.
BAE highlighted this is the first West Coast-based DDG to undergo the Navy’s DMP upgrade and repair program.
“We look forward to conducting the first-ever West Coast destroyer DMP availability on the Howard. The extensive work to be done on board aligns perfectly with the experience and capabilities of our employees and subcontractors,” David Thomas, VP and general manager of BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, said in a statement.
Separately, NAVSEA awarded BAE almost $42 million for the FY 2018 depot modernization period of the Oscar Austin, which similarly includes modernization, repair, and maintenance of the ship.
The Oscar Austin availability was procured similarly to the Howard but using an East and Gulf coast-wide open competition to not limit contract performance in the ship’s homeport of Norfolk, Va.
BAE will also provide the facilities and personnel needed to complete maintenance, modernization, and repair under this contract in Norfolk, Va. This contract was openly procured via the FedBizOpps website with two offers received.
The Oscar Austin contract includes options that if exercised would raise the total value to $117 million. Work is expected to start in February 2018 and be finished within 12 months, by February 2019.
The company said the process will start by dry-docking the ship then beginning to upgrade the Oscar Austin’s Lockheed Martin [LMT] Aegis Combat System and other systems. BAE said the “alterations and miscellaneous repairs will affect nearly every onboard space.”
“The work we will perform on the Oscar Austin is large and complex, and will involve a large number of our employees and subcontractors,” Thomas added in a separate statement.
Thomas was named as the new general manager of BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair effective Jan. 1 after running BAE’s Norfolk Ship Repair.
BAE also underscored its shipyard in Jacksonville, Fla., is working on the first destroyer to undergo DMP work, the USS Roosevelt (DDG-80).