Navy announces shipyard recap program office ahead of industry day

By Justin Katz / April 3, 2019 at 4:45 PM

The Navy today announced it has stood up the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan program office, internally called PMS 555, and that office will be responsible for executing the service's $21 billion recapitalization plan.

The program office was established in June, but the announcement comes a week before an April 8 industry day, which will focus on contracting opportunities associated with recapitalizing the four public shipyards. The new office will work in concert with Navy Installations Command and Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

"The first milestone PMS 555 is scheduled to achieve is the development of a 'digital twin' of the naval shipyards," according to the statement. "This will be a virtual representation of the shipyards that will be used to conduct modeling and simulations of the shipyard environment to aid in evaluations and decisions for the future shipyard infrastructure."

The service released a redacted executive summary of its recapitalization strategy last September, which stated the Navy would need a bigger budget in future years to execute its plans, Inside Defense reported.

The $21 billion will go toward upgrading dry docks to accommodate future attack submarines and aircraft carriers, replacing aging equipment with "up-to-date technology" and optimizing shipyard layouts to improve productivity, Inside Defense previously reported.

The Navy's fiscal year 2020 budget request includes $454 million for activities related to the shipyard recapitalization plan, Rear Adm. Randy Crites, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, told reporters last month.

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