The Navy has initiated plans to formally inform private shipyard contractors of the possible termination of scheduled maintenance work, but stopped short of issuing cancellations it said it might have to do without a fiscal 2013 appropriations bill from Congress.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert last week instructed fleet commanders to begin the notifications of the potential for cancellation, deferral, or changes to ship maintenance availabilities for the remainder of the fiscal year, which runs through September, the Navy said Friday.
“Right now, we are informing organizations on the possibility of cancellation and asking for the potential impacts should the decision be made,” Lt. Courtney Hillson, a Navy spokeswoman, said. “We will hold out to the last possible moment before making any irreversible decisions–to allow Congress maximum time to enact an FY13 appropriations bill or other legislation with authority to address our shortfalls.”
The Pentagon has been operating on a continuing resolution (CR) funding measure since the beginning of the fiscal year. The CR keeps spending at roughly 2012 levels but forbids the start of new programs, including ship maintenance. As the budget stalemate on Capitol Hill endures, the Navy, as well as the rest of the Pentagon, is concerned the CR could be extended for the rest of the year when it expires at the end of March.
Greenert had previously warned the service would have to start canceling scheduled maintenance as of Friday if Congress had not passed a budget. Hillson said, however, that the Navy was not backing off that position by issuing notifications rather than cancellations.
“Not at all,” she said. “We have been consistent throughout this process that it is iterative and subject to change should we obtain sufficient funding. And we’ve been clear that to the degree we can we want to retain the flexibility to reverse some of these decisions.”
“As we have said all along, we’d rather not have to cancel this work,” she added.
Greenert told Congress this week that the service could face an $8.6 billion shortfall in operations and maintenance funding under a CR and if automatic budget cuts known as sequestration cannot be averted by March. 1.
The Navy had earlier this month announced it was delaying the mid-life refueling and overhaul of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). The aircraft carrier remained at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia rather heading to nearby Huntington Ingalls Industries’ [HII] Newport News Shipbuilding (Defense Daily, Feb. 11). The service said it needs $1.5 billion dollars for fiscal 2013 to begin the work on the ship. The cost of the four-year refueling and overhaul is estimated to be $3.3 billion.
Earlier this week a group of nine Democratic and Republican lawmakers sent Greenert and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus a letter urging them to delay plans to cancel ship maintenance availabilities (Defense Daily, Feb. 12).