GAO to issue report on Navy's shipyard modernization effort in summer 2019

The Government Accountability Office plans to issue a report on the Navy's efforts to modernize shipyards in the summer of 2019.

John Pendleton, the defense capabilities and management director for GAO, told lawmakers during a joint hearing today with the Senate Armed Services Committee seapower and readiness and management support subcommittees to expect the report in May or June of next year.

"We have a review underway looking at how that's going," Pendleton told the panel of lawmakers in response to a question from seapower subcommittee Ranking Member Mazie Hirono (D-HI).

"We have work that indicates the age and condition of the shipyards and have looked at the impact on maintenance delays. But the optimization itself, we're still looking at that," he added.

Meanwhile, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told lawmakers the service is in the process of executing a proposal to upgrade its four public shipyards.

Inside Defense in January reported that the Navy would start an optimization blueprint for the private shipyards, in addition to the service's plan for the public yards.