NEWS
Coast Guard Reassigns Deepwater Patrol Boat
The U.S. Coast Guard terminated the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B acquisition currently with Integrated Coast Guard Systems and reassigned the project to the Coast Guard's Acquisition Directorate. The project is for 12 patrol boats scheduled for delivery beginning Spring 2010. ICGS, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, was notified of the decision earlier today. Allen emphasized this decision pertains only to the acquisition of patrol boats and does not impact ongoing negotiations with ICGS for other work to be done in the second performance period of the Deepwater contract, beginning June 2007. The service is taking the action to ensure full and open competition, to control costs and deliver urgently needed patrol boats to meet basic mission requirements in the shortest time possible. The Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate expects to release the Request for Proposal for the 12 FRCB patrol boats in May 2007. The RFP will be for a fixed-price contract based on an existing, in-service, proven patrol boat design requiring only minimal modifications to meet basic requirements. The so-called "parent craft" acquisition strategy was chosen for the FRC B when design work on the FRC-A was suspended in early 2006 due to technical risk. This action by the Coast Guard is in alignment with its recently released "Blue Print for Acquisition Reform", which emphasizes risk management and cost control and states the service must be able to effectively employ either a government or commercial entity as systems integrator.
WE PRODUCE CLASSICS.
Fast Response Cutter-B
Planned as the smallest of three major classes of Coast Guard cutters, the Fast Response Cutter will be able to deploy independently to conduct the service's missions, such as ports, waterways and coastal security, fishery patrols, drug and illegal migrant law enforcement, search and rescue, and national-defense operations. Advancing the design and construction of this new patrol boat is one of the Coast Guard's top near-term priorities. The $24billion, 25-year post-9/11 Deepwater Implementation Plan calls for 58 FRC A and B class end-state assets. The FRC will be built to deliver all required capabilities to the Coast Guard in a way that will enhance the safety and well-being of its crew and allow the Coast Guard to execute its assigned missions more effectively, efficiently, and safely. The Deepwater Program temporarily suspended design work February 2006 on the FRC-A due to technical risk. Because of the Coast Guard's urgent need for patrol boats, the Coast Guard then began work on a "dual path" approach that includes an interim strategy to acquire a B-class vessel until technical risks with the A-class design can be mitigated. A "parent craft" acquisition strategy was chosen for the Bclass - also sometimes called the Replacement Patrol Boat -- to be based on an inservice, proven patrol boat design.
8365 Highway 308 South | Lockport, Louisiana 70374 985.532.2554 | Fax: 985.532.7225 | www.bollingershipyards.com | sales@bollingershipyards.com
8 · MarineNews · April, 2007
You don't have Macromedia Flash Player installed.
This content requires the Macromedia Flash Player.
Get Flash