The Coast Guard on Wednesday evening said it awarded a combined $20 million to five companies for one-year design studies and analyses of a new heavy polar icebreaker with the goal of finding ways to reduce program costs and schedule timelines.
Bollinger Shipyards, Fincantieri Marine Group, which is the U.S.-based shipbuilding division of Italy’s Fincantieri, the NASSCO shipbuilding division of General Dynamics [GD], Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII], and VT Halter Marine, which is the U.S.-based shipbuilding division of Singapore’s ST Engineering, each received design study contracts of $4 million.
The Coast Guard continues to plan for award of a contract for design and construction of the lead hull of the new icebreaker in FY ’19 with production to begin in FY ’20, a service spokesman told Defense Daily on Thursday. Delivery of the first heavy polar icebreaker is slated for FY ’23.
The spokesman said that the Coast Guard has asked the contractors to study and validate the current notional program schedule.
“These contracts will provide invaluable data and insight as we seek to meet schedule and affordability objectives,” Rear Adm. Michael Haycock, program executive officer and director of Acquisition Programs for the Coast Guard, said in a statement.
The Coast Guard also said the study contracts ask the companies to examine major design cost drivers, ways to approach risks with acquisition, technology and production, and the benefits of different production contract types.
The study contracts were released earlier than expected. Haycock said in January that he expected the awards to be made in late March or early April.
A draft request for proposal (RFP) for detail design and construction is scheduled to be released by the end of FY ’17 with the final RFP to be issued in FY ’18.
The Coast Guard is teamed with the Navy on the heavy polar icebreaker program through an integrated program office. The Coast Guard said that the design studies are an acquisition best practice based on the Navy’s experience with the landing craft, utility amphibious transport ship and the T-AO(X) fleet oiler, which are being acquired under accelerated schedules.
Jay Stefany, executive director of the Amphibious, Auxiliary and Sealift Office for the Navy’s Program Executive Office, Ships, said in a statement that the early engagement with industry on the icebreaker program “will be critical to delivering this capability to our nation.”
So far only GD has announced any teammates for its pursuit of the icebreaker contract. The company is teamed with VARD, a Norway-based firm that is part of Fincantieri and is a designer of polar icebreakers.
The Coast Guard has a requirement for three new heavy polar icebreakers and three medium polar icebreakers. The service currently operates on heavy icebreaker and one medium icebreaker.