United Defense Wins Contracts

United Defense, Industries, Inc announced today the award to NORSHIPCO a division of United States Marine Repair of 2 multi-year, multi-ship, cost plus contracts by the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Shipbuilding and Repair (SUPSHIP), Portsmouth worth nearly $90 million if all options are exercised. The largest contract, for six LSD-41 and 48 class ships, puts the entire LSD fleet of this ship type on East and West coasts under maintenance contracts with United States Marine Repair, a subsidiary of United Defense. The Advance Planning award totals $52,610. The combined total contract award, if the Navy exercises all options, is approximately $64 million. The ships included in this award, all home-ported in Norfolk, are the USS OAK HILL, USS WHIDBEY ISLAND, USS GUNSTON HALL, USS ASHLAND, USS TORTUGA, and the USS CARTER HALL. The work package includes pier side and dry dock work, ship alterations, hull, mechanical and electrical repairs, modernization and habitability work and required emergent repairs. According to Tom Epley, NORSHIPCO's president and general manager, "Being awarded this long-term contract gives NORSHIPCO a greater ability to stabilize our work force and avoid the employment swings we often encounter under the fixed-price, single availability method of contracting." Epley indicated that the Navy is returning to multi-ship, multi-year cost contracting to decrease the amount of time its ships spend in repair availabilities and to increase contractor efficiency. "With this award,” said Epley, “our workers will know the ships and their systems, as well as the assigned sailors. This should result in lower costs and more time available for training, benefiting both the Navy and the company from this long-term relationship." Another contract awarded to NORSHIPCO by SUPSHIP, Portsmouth, is the Docking Phased Maintenance, Fixed Price Availability for the USS SEATTLE (AOE-3), a Norfolk-based, fast combat support ship. The initial award for advance planning is valued at $1.4 million. If the Navy exercises the contract options, the total award value will exceed $25 million. The USS SEATTLE is scheduled to arrive at NORSHIPCO on October 15, 2002. The work package includes dry docking, structural repairs, piping, machinery and electrical repairs and interior preservation work. Approximately 250 NORSHIPCO workers per day will be assigned to the ship.