US Navy awards design contract work for shipyard modernisation in Hawaii and Washington states

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) awarded a USD500 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architecture-engineering contract for structural and waterfront-related projects at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF) in Hawaii and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF) in Washington state, NAVFAC officials confirmed on 13 September.

The five-year contract, awarded to WSM Pacific SIOP, a joint venture based in Honolulu, will support construction, repair, and alteration projects at both shipyards as part of the US Navy's (USN's) comprehensive Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), NAVFAC officials said.

“To create the public shipyards that our nation needs requires investments to improve their capacity and capability,” said Captain Warren LeBeau, programme manager for SIOP. “This contract directly supports the vital roles that Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard have in terms of our national defence by executing maintenance and modernisation on submarines and aircraft carriers to provide combat-ready ships to the fleet.”

SIOP is a joint effort between Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), NAVFAC, and Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) to recapitalise and modernise the infrastructure at the USN's four public shipyards, including repairing and modernising dry docks, restoring shipyard facilities and optimising their placement, and replacing ageing and deteriorating capital equipment.

Originally designed and built in the 19 ^th and 20 ^th centuries, PSNS & IMF, PHNSY & IMF, and the other two US public shipyards – Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Norfolk Naval Shipyard – were meant to build sail and conventionally powered ships. The yards are not efficiently configured to maintain and modernise USN ships, particularly nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.