Fast Response Cutter decision delayed (your tax $$$$ at work)

[unhappycamper]

Fast Response Cutter decision delayed
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 11, 2008 15:50:53 EDT

The decision as to what shipbuilder will win the Coast Guard’s Fast Response Cutter (FRC) contract will have to wait at least another two months, the service said Friday.

“We’re opening another round of discussions,” said Coast Guard spokesperson Laura Williams.

The service has not disclosed how many companies responded to a Request for Proposals (RfP) issued earlier to build the new cutters, needed to replace dozens of aged patrol boats. Service officials had been indicating a decision could have come by early July.

The new round of discussions “will provide all offerors in the competitive range an opportunity to improve their proposals and address any deficiencies and/or weaknesses,” Rear Adm. Gary Blore, the Coast Guard’s top acquisition officer, said in a fleetwide message sent out July 11.

“To accommodate these additional discussions,” Blore added, “the anticipated contract award date is now September or early October of this year.”


Article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/07/dfn_cutter_071108/



uhc comment: The FRC is part of the Deepwater program, which has produced some memorable craft.




The National Security Cutter costs $536,000,000 a pop -->
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=14569
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=12122





Littoral Combat ships cost somewhere between $3,300,000,000 to $5,000,000,000 a pop -->
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=14156
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=14449


Now onto the Fast Response Cutter.



The Seattle Times reported in 2007 that the Deepwater program is "behind schedule and producing shoddy results" --> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003615378_coastguard13m.htmlhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003615378_coastguard13m.html

The Coast Guard reported in 2007 that the FRC program was terminated --> http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-terminates-deepwater-replacement-patrol-boat-contract/2007/03/14/



And we wonder why the 2009 military budget is almost a trillion dollars a year. :shrug:

[madmom]

1. Trying to figure out a way to get another repug crony a gov. contract?

[haele]

2. They must be determined to punish Trent Lott - or other states that have annoyed them -

Shipyards that are crying for work and have the capability to build a FRC (which has more peacetime capability than wartime...)
Off the top of my head we have -
- Pascagula, MS (Ingalls) - "Just down the street from Trent's porch". Weak union and non-union shops, and the state is desperate for a boost in the economy - Northrup Grumman (a.k.a. Carslyle group member)subsidiary on the federal side of the river.
- Seattle, Wa (Todd Pacific). Strong Union shipyard - Independent shipyard, now mainly commercial shipbuilding and federal (i.e. NOAA, Coast Guard and Navy) has slipped down to only overhaul/repair. Todd Pacific is easily able to be able to take on federal shipbuilding again. There are also two federal shipyards (Puget Sound Naval being a major engineering center) in the area that can support with "the classified stuff".
-San Diego, CA (NASSCO) Strong Union shipbuilder - a General Dynamics subsidiary.
- New Orleans (Avondale Shipyard) - Weak union shipbuilder - and lots of locals that are still trying to recover from Katrina could use the added work. Northrup Grumman division.
-Newport News, VA - Weak Union shipyard, also a Northrup Grumman division.
-Bath Iron Works, MA - Strong Union shipyard, a General Dynamics subsidiary.

The other issue is that the government has so downsized it's Maritime engineering commands, most of the acquisition and implementation is "supported" by contractors on the typical "1 year award + 5 year follow-ons (that usually need to be re-awarded every year) so there is often a lag in "corporate knowledge" about any program. Especially if it's a plum multi-tens of millions award, the support will be hung up in all sorts of protests or bidding wars every frikkin' year come the end of the contract year, so trying to get anything done past 16 months out is ridiculous, especially if you're a contractor that is actually trying to do a quality job as well as making as much profit as possible. (Trust me, there are "evil contractors" out there that do take pride in the work they are doing, and want to do a good job for the taxpayer's dollar - as well as make a profit...)
Point - the Littoral Combat Ships (cruiser/destroyer) program, the design of which this Coast Guard ship is based - if actually begun when awarded back in 1999, the first ships should be coming off the ways this year. But, for some reason, Northrup and General Dynamics supporters in both the CNO office and Congress have gotten into petty pissy wars, so the contract gets modified to support some vague budget, mission or technology point come up with at the last minute, then has to go out for rebid, re-awarded to the other corporation, then gets protested, then gets modified...rinse and repeat. I've yet to see a final design award that hasn't been sent back for a do-over, even if it had a sound base to work off with only minor changes that might have needed to be done.
It almost seems as if it's like "speculation" - the longer the project is pushed out, the more money can be made by the corporate heads - while the lower paid engineers, designers, shipyard workers are left looking for work to keep them going while a program is hung up for five or ten years. And since ship-building isn't as sexy as smaller programs like UMV's or the latest rocket launcher, it's easier to claim a shipbuilding project is too much bucks for the bang factor.

Also, too often the initial contract will go to a buddy company with a puffed up resume, and that's where all the egos and beltway "corruption" comes into play when something actually needs to get done. Usually fellow worshipers of the Ghod of Greed will get last word as to who might be deserving enough to be given money.

Haele