By Geoff Fein
The Navy intends to award a sole source contract later this summer to Louisiana-based Swiftships Shipbuilders to construct up to 15 coastal patrol boats for the Iraqi Navy, six of which will be paid for by the United States, according to the service.
Funds for the six boats will come from the Iraqi Security Force Funds (ISFF) appropriated in the fiscal year 2007 war supplemental, a Naval Sea Systems Command spokeswoman said.
The ISFF program manages the purchase of defense equipment for Iraq.
A presolicitation notice was published July 2 at http://www.fbo.gov (solicitation number: N000240R2256). According to the notice, Swiftships Shipbuilders will be responsible for the detail design, construction, outfitting and documentation of all the coastal patrol boats (CPB).
“Swiftships Shipbuilders was the only source that makes the CPBs with the Model 35PB1208 E-1455 and data rights directed by the Iraqi government through a foreign military case. The firm has the requisite background knowledge and experience required,” the solicitation said.
“The 35-meter patrol boat contract is just one part of a larger total program, which also delivers spare parts, guns, ammunition, training, naval simulators and infrastructure within Umm Qasr Naval Base, Iraq. The total program for the Iraqi Navy is the third largest case of foreign military sales, or FMS, to Iraq,” the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, said in a statement earlier this week.
“These patrol boats will protect Iraq’s offshore oil platforms, which are vital to the recovery of the country’s economy and infrastructure,” U.S. Navy Capt. Dan Keller, director, Security Assistance Directorate of the Navy International Programs Office, said. “With stable oil-export revenues, everything else can grow (Defense Daily, July 23).”