The Navy is closely observing the potential impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the integrity of its supply chain, the service’s top acquisition civilian said March 12.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics James “Hondo” Geurts said the service is taking a look at all of its acquisition programs to find potential weak spots that could suffer from the ramifications of the newly declared pandemic spreading worldwide.
“This plays into the … understanding of our supply chains, where we’ve got fragility, planning forward on that,” Geurts said during a House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee hearing Thursday. He noted that the impact would likely be “a little longer term,” but could also have a longer lasting impact on Navy acquisition and sustainment programs.
Adm. Robert Burke, vice chief of naval operations, also testified that the Navy, along with its fellow services, is following the guidelines directed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “with implementation above and beyond those requirements as necessary.”
Burke noted that the Navy has put measures in place for ships in the Indo-Pacific region to undergo “effectively a self-quarantine” by remaining at sea for 14 days after leaving a port. The ship will monitor its crew during that time period before pulling into another port.
“We are very sensitive to the fact that we are moving from place to place rapidly,” Burke said. “We do not want to be the source of transmission of the virus.”