In early August, the United States Navy awarded a contract worth $91 million to AECOM Technical Services, intended to fund infrastructure repairs at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Specifically, they aim to prepare the facility to service Gerald Ford-class aircraft carriers.
In a statement released last week, the US Navy said, “The work to be performed provides for repairs to Bertsh 40 and 41 structural components by replacing deteriorated pile systems, cast-in-place concrete systems, pile caps, concrete beams, and fender pile systems.”
This statement also describes that three offers had been made for the work but the United States Department of Defense, typically, only release the name of the company that wins the contract, and no information about those who lost the bid.
“The award of this contract is a crucial step to ensuring that NNSY has the infrastructure needed to service future fleet platforms and demonstrates the importance of the SIOP program for the Navy.”
The SIOP, of course, is th Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan. This is actually a longstanding infrastructure revitalization effort aimed at four public shipyards. Repairing the Virginia’s shipyard berths and upgrading one of the dry docks are only part of the larger scheme. The SIOP is a 20-year program expected to cost around $21 billion.
In addition to reinforcing the dry docks, the program also hopes to make dock layouts more efficient for workers and to refurbish/restore old and broken equipment. It is actually only one of many contracts issued by the Navy’s lead agency—the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command—in the past few years.
Last week’s contract is vital, of course, because it has the aim to restore and reinfore the infrastructure necessary for the Navy to improve service and maintenance of its newest class of aircraft carriers. For example, in April the Navy contracted Bollinger Shipyards to refurbish a pair of Virginia-class submarine dry docks located at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in Maine. And in August of 2021, the Navy chose 381 Constructors to “expand and reconfigure” another dry dock complex in the same shipyard.
