Coast Guard Reassigns Deepwater Patrol Boat Project
FRC
Photo Credit: USCGThe U.S. Coast Guard has terminated the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B acquisition currently with Integrated Coast Guard Systems and reassigned the project to the Coast Guard’s Acquisition Directorate. The project is for twelve patrol boats scheduled for delivery beginning Spring 2010. ICGS, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, was notified of the decision earlier today. “This decision is based on the Coast Guard’s ongoing commitment to improve management of the Integrated Deepwater System contract, to achieve best value for taxpayers and the government, and give Coast Guard men and women the capable assets they need to save lives, secure our maritime borders, and protect the environment,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard. Allen emphasized this decision pertains only to the acquisition of patrol boats and does not impact ongoing negotiations with ICGS for other work to be done in the second performance period of the Deepwater contract, beginning June 2007. The service is taking the action to ensure full and open competition, to control costs and deliver urgently needed patrol boats to meet basic mission requirements in the shortest time possible. The Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate expects to release the Request for Proposal for the 12 FRC-B patrol boats in May 2007. The RFP will be for a fixed-price contract based on an existing, in-service, proven patrol boat design requiring only minimal modifications to meet basic requirements. The so-called “parent craft” acquisition strategy was chosen for the FRC B when design work on the FRC-A was suspended in early 2006 due to technical risk. This action by the Coast Guard is in alignment with its recently released “Blue Print for Acquisition Reform”, which emphasizes risk management and cost control and states the service must be able to effectively employ either a government or commercial entity as systems integrator.
Photo Credit: USCGThe U.S. Coast Guard has terminated the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B acquisition currently with Integrated Coast Guard Systems and reassigned the project to the Coast Guard’s Acquisition Directorate. The project is for twelve patrol boats scheduled for delivery beginning Spring 2010. ICGS, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, was notified of the decision earlier today. “This decision is based on the Coast Guard’s ongoing commitment to improve management of the Integrated Deepwater System contract, to achieve best value for taxpayers and the government, and give Coast Guard men and women the capable assets they need to save lives, secure our maritime borders, and protect the environment,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard. Allen emphasized this decision pertains only to the acquisition of patrol boats and does not impact ongoing negotiations with ICGS for other work to be done in the second performance period of the Deepwater contract, beginning June 2007. The service is taking the action to ensure full and open competition, to control costs and deliver urgently needed patrol boats to meet basic mission requirements in the shortest time possible. The Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate expects to release the Request for Proposal for the 12 FRC-B patrol boats in May 2007. The RFP will be for a fixed-price contract based on an existing, in-service, proven patrol boat design requiring only minimal modifications to meet basic requirements. The so-called “parent craft” acquisition strategy was chosen for the FRC B when design work on the FRC-A was suspended in early 2006 due to technical risk. This action by the Coast Guard is in alignment with its recently released “Blue Print for Acquisition Reform”, which emphasizes risk management and cost control and states the service must be able to effectively employ either a government or commercial entity as systems integrator.
