Engineering And Technical Services News

U.S. shipbuilder Philly Shipyard announced it has been awarded a contract to develop preliminary designs for vessels to replace the U.S. Navy's two current Mercy-class hospital ships.The T-AH(X) Hospital Ship Feasibility Study contract was awarded by Gibbs and Cox, a Leidos Inc. company. Philly Shipyard said it will subcontract to Vard Marine Inc. to provide engineering and technical services for the six-month design study, and that the pair would leverage design work performed as part of a special study completed for the U.S.

After several false starts, 2021 is the year when the U.S. offshore wind industry begins to realize its potential. This is according to Philip Lewis, Director of Research, World Energy Reports (WER).In an interview with Maritime Reporter TV's Greg Trauthwein, Lewis, whose WER is set to release an intelligence pack that presents a roadmap to the opportunities in the U.S. offshore wind space, says that at least 30 major offshore wind projects are forecast to be developed within this decade.

British multinational BAE Systems was awarded a pair of contracts worth $300 million that will support the Navy in digital endeavors.The first is a $212 million contract from the Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division to integrate and sustain critical communications systems. As per contract, BAE will design, acquire, integrate and test radio systems for new guided missile destroyers specifically, as well as other unspecified Navy and Coast Guard ships.Additionally, the company was awarded a separate $104.7 million contract by NAWCAD to provide engineering and technical services to support production, lifetime-support, and in-service engineering for the radio communications C5ISR (command…

Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia (N64498-19-D-0001); Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia (N64498-19-D-0002); and General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut (N64498-19-D-0003), are being awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity multiple award contracts with firm-fixed-priced ordering provisions for Submarine Safety (SUBSAFE) and Level I engineering and technical services in the amounts of $827,674,072; $874,341,811; and $1,110,350,671, respectively. This requirement is for management and technical services for the support installation, troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance of main and auxiliary weapons…

Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, a leading global system supplier for submarines and surface vessels, has received a service order worth around €40 million from the Peruvian naval shipyard SIMA. A key component of the order is the provision of consulting during the planning and realization of extensive modernization work on four HDW 209/1200 class submarines over a period of seven years. Among other things thyssenkrupp Marine Systems will perform engineering and technical services such as cutting and welding on the submarines and will make specialists available to provide local support. Andreas Burmester, CEO of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems: "We are pleased to be continuing our cooperation with the Peruvian navy.

Mitigating the risk of collision at sea requires an understanding of the causes. The new industry guidance issued by Lloyd’s Register aims to help make offshore operations safer for marine and energy operators. Lloyd Register’s new Guidance Notes for Collision Analysis assist owners, operators and designers of offshore units with identifying potential collision scenarios, assessing the relative risks and conducting numerical analysis, establishing representative collision loads and measuring the impact of these loads on the structural integrity of offshore units. A collision may occur as a result of a vessel losing its positioning or navigational abilities due to structural, mechanical or electrical failure, human error and environmental conditions.

The Port of Hueneme, California, and the Port of Bolivar, Ecuador, have formalized their friendship by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding declaring their affirmation of a “Sister Port” relationship. The Port of Hueneme is the west coast’s number one hub for the banana trade, moving over 650,000 tons of bananas annually. The Port of Bolivar serves as one of the Port of Hueneme’s largest trading partners in the transport of bananas, fruits, and produce. As part of the agreement, the two ports will share information and policies on a wide range of topics relevant to the development of facilities, training of personnel, engineering and technical services…

WR Systems, Ltd. of Norfolk, Va. has been awarded a delivery order on the SeaPort-e contract with NSWC, Dahlgren Division for support services to Combat Direction Systems Activity, Dam Neck (CDSADN) Rapid Response Engineering Capability in the areas of software, hardware, network engineering and technical services. WR will provide support services in the development and refinement of prototype and test articles and provide services required to document and support these products, related subsystems and components. This contract is the follow-on to WR’s Prime contract for Common Mobility Services (CMS) with CDSADN that was awarded in 2007.

In the latest announcement of US Department of Defense, Navy, contracts, Huntington Ingalls Inc. and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Va., is being awarded a $7,319,933 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-12-C-2101) for planning and design yard functions for standard Navy valves in support of nuclear-powered submarines. Work will be performed in Newport News, Va., and is expected to be completed by September 2014. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Charlottesville, Va., is being awarded an $8…

LEEVAC Shipyards, LLC through its newly created subsidiary LEEVAC Shipyards Houma, LLC (LEEVAC) has completed the acquisition of substantially all assets of Quality Shipyards, Inc. (Quality) located at 3201 Earhart Street in Houma Louisiana from Tidewater Marine, LLC (NYSE: TDW). The acquisition of assets includes 35 acres of industrial property located on 2,500 feet of waterfront along the intracoastal waterway, 4 drydocks (the largest measuring 4,200 tons of capacity), 100,000 square feet of covered production facilities and several large track cranes.

The Australian Minister for Defense Materiel Mike Kelly announced the signing of a $21 million four-year contract with AMC Search Ltd to provide Pacific Patrol Boat (PPB) training services. Dr. Kelly said AMC Search Ltd (AMCS) is the commercial arm of the Australian Maritime College, located in Launceston, Tasmania. “The contract is for a range of technical, operational and administration courses for students from the 11 nations participating in the PPB Program,” Dr. Kelly said. “An annual suite of 16 separate training programs are to be delivered in Launceston. “Courses will range in duration from 10 days to 12 weeks and AMCS will also deliver some training in individual countries. “It is anticipated that approximately 140 – 160 students will undertake training each year.

Huntington Ingalls Industries said its AMSEC LLC subsidiary won a task order under a previously awarded contract to provide engineering and technical services to support efforts to improve U.S. Navy shipboard technical data environments. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee SeaPort Enhanced (SeaPort-e) task order contains a base period with two, one-year option periods which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to approximately $4.9m. SeaPort-e is the Navy's electronic platform for acquiring support services in 22 functional areas, including engineering, financial management and program management.

Science Applications International Corporation announced it was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) to produce the Battle Force Tactical Network (BFTN) system. The contract has a one-year base period of performance, four one-year options, and a contract value of approximately $57 million, if all options are exercised. Work will be performed in Sterling, Va. As the Navy's Information Dominance Systems Command, SPAWAR designs, develops and deploys advanced communications and information capabilities. The BFTN system provides secure connectivity to the maritime operational environment for Navy and joint forces.

Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) announced today that Dean Taylor, its President and CEO since March 2002, will retire as an executive officer of the company effective May 31, 2012, after a 34-year career with Tidewater. Mr. Taylor will remain on the Board of Directors, and serve as Tidewater’s non-executive Chairman of the Board. Jeffrey M. Platt will become Tidewater’s new President and CEO effective June 1, 2012. Platt has been Tidewater’s COO, overseeing Tidewater’s domestic and international marine operations, since July 2006.

Platform supply vessel Cindy Brown Tide was delivered to offshore-service giant Tidewater on Oct. 24, and chartered to oil company BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The boat's namesake is someone missed by many. "The vessel was named for Cynthia Niklaus Brown, a wonderful woman who passed away in late 2009 in Houston after being diagnosed with cancer," said Joseph Badeaux, general manager and vice president at Houma, La.-based Quality Shipyards, a subsidiary of Tidewater. Brown, a New Orleans native…

Oceaneering International, Inc., Chesapeake, Va., is being awarded a $47,429,395 modification to previously awarded contract (N65540-05-D-0012) to provide continuing Subsafe engineering and technical services to support submarine, Subsafe, and Level I material work onboard Seawolf (SSN 21) class, Los Angeles (SSN 688) class, Ohio class (SSBN), and Virginia class submarines.  Work will be performed in Puget Sound, Wash. (60 percent), Norfolk, Va. (30 percent), and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (10 percent), and is expected to be completed by May 2014.  Contract funds in the amount of $15,000,000 dollars will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Ship Systems Engineering Station, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity.

Based on planned IMO compliance deadlines, over 50,000 merchant ships will need to install certified BWT systems by 2016 or 2017; that’s about 10,000 ships per year for five or so years after ratification. Optimarin, a world leader of ballast water treatment systems, is setting its sights on retrofits and newbuilds that represent great opportunity for future business growth. Optimarin today announced global expansion of its company after a period of significant activity, securing BWT system contract wins with a number of major ship owners to be delivered over the next few years.

ABS Nautical Systems was selected by Tidewater Inc. to trial its fleet management software. With this partnership, ABS Nautical Systems intends to become Tidewater’s global fleet management software provider. Tidewater would be replacing an internal system with ABS Nautical Systems’ fully integrated software suite to help manage its principal operational functions including maintenance, vessel-initiated requisitions and relevant regulatory requirements. “Our vendor vetting process was time intensive,” said Bill Scott, Manager, Engineering and Technical Services, Tidewater. Tidewater will implement several modules from ABS Nautical Systems’ software suite NS5…

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a cost plus fixed fee contract option valued at $102.7m from the U.S. Navy for work on Los Angeles-class, Seawolf-class, Virginia-class and Ohio-class submarines, special mission submersible interfaces, submarine support facilities and related programs. The company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va. is the prime contractor and will provide engineering, design, configuration management, integrated logistic support, database management and modernization support. Work is expected to begin immediately and continue into 2011.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems was awarded an $11.5m modification to a previously awarded contract to provide engineering and technical services for the AN/BYG-1 weapons control system for SSN21-, Virginia- and SSN688/688I-class submarines. This contract modification is the second-year option of a multi-year contract awarded in July 2009. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). The AN/BYG-1 integrates the tactical control, weapons control and tactical network subsystems on U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy submarines. The General Dynamics-developed weapons control system is based on an open-architecture and open-business model approach which facilitates system enhancements.

Tecnico Corp., Chesapeake, Va., (N65540-09-D-0033); AMSEC, LLC., Virginia Beach, Va., (N65540-09-D-0029); BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, Inc., San Diego, Calif., (N65540-09-D-0031); Delphinus Engineering Inc., Eddystone, Pa., (N65540-09-D-0030); General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Va., (N65540-09-D-0032); Q.E.D. Systems, Inc., Virginia Beach, Va., (N65540-09-D-0029), are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee multiple award contract for engineering and technical services on hull, mechanical, electrical and electronic systems and equipment onboard U.S. Naval Vessels. The dollar value for all six contracts combined is $455,163,385.

General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Va., is being awarded an estimated $10,906,614 modification to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee multiple award contract (N65540-02-D-0041) for engineering and technical services for alteration installations, engineering research, design, computer programming and logistics on hull, mechanical, electrical and electronics systems onboard U.S. Navy ships. Work will be performed principally at fleet concentration areas including but not limited to Norfolk, Va., (25 percent); San Diego, Calif., (15 percent); Mayport, Fla., (55 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, (3 percent); and Yokosuka/Sasebo, Japan, (2 percent); and is expected to be completed by Mar. 2010.

Rolls-Royce Marine International Inc., Walpole, Mass., is being awarded a $5,672,842 cost plus fixed fee contract for a Compact High-Power High-Density Waterjet. The objective of this contract is for research to implement the waterjet technology developed in Phase I to resolve the anticipated cavitation erosion issues. This includes the preparation of the detailed design and fabrication of two full-scale waterjet prototypes for demonstration. The work will be performed in Walpole, Mass. (90 percent); Pascagoula, Miss. (7 percent); and Sweden (3 percent), and work is expected to be completed September 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $2,217,410 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.