Reducing the Construction Contract Cycle for Naval Auxiliary Ships

A Mid-Term Fast Sealift Technology Development Program producibility study was undertaken by the Manufacturing Systems Division (Code 125) of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division for the Naval Sea Systems Command Computer Aided Engineering Division, Ship Design and Engineering Directorate, SEA 507. The producibility project team was initially tasked to identify and evaluate possible design improvements with regard to their potential impact upon the cost of construction for the Baseline 0a rough-order-of-magnitude geared-diesel option. This particular design variant is a 30-knot twin-screw, 289 m (948 ft) roll-on/roll-off vessel with four 18 PC4.2V medium-speed diesels producing 85 619 kW (114 817 hp) of installed power. The construction cost estimate developed by NAVSEA for the variant is $385 million per ship. In addition to the NAVSEA-assigned task, the team reviewed the producibility aspects of the Navy auxiliary ship procurement process with regard to finding methods that would facilitate major reductions in the construction contract cycle, as time is now recognized as a major cost driver in ship procurement. The construction contract cycle is defined as the amount of time from construction contract award to delivery, and was estimated by NAVSEA to be 42 months for the subject ship.