The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday marked up its version of the FY ’15 Homeland Security spending bill, allocating $39.2 billion in discretionary spending, an $887.8 million increase to the Obama administration’s request.
The committee’s version of the bill is essentially the same as that marked up by its Homeland Security Subcommittee in May (Defense Daily, May 28).
The bill provides $1.3 billion for the Coast Guard’s acquisition account versus the $1.1 billion requested, and includes funds to purchase the eighth and final National Security Cutter (NSC) and four Fast Response Cutters. The administration requested the NSC funds but only money for two FRCs.
The $630.3 million recommended for the NSC is $7.7 million less than requested due to what the committee says is “unjustified cost growth on the production price of NSC 8” and for about $4 million in “activities requested ahead of need.” The committee also says in a draft report accompanying the bill that $6.3 million in additional funding is being requested fro a small-unmanned aircraft system that could deploy aboard the NSC for persistent tactical surveillance in support of counter-drug missions.
Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] builds the NSC and Bollinger Shipyards the FRC.
The committee halved the $20 million request for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program due to “significant” unspent balances in the program and because of more than nine months of delays in the current program schedule in the past year. Preliminary contract design awards to three companies in February had been expected last September. On top of that delay, work on the contracts was stopped for three months due to protests by the losing vendors, which the Government Accountability Office rejected earlier this month.
Bollinger, General Dynamics [GD] and Eastern Shipbuilding Group were each awarded OPC design contracts. HII and VT Halter Marine were the losing bidders.