NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Rather than have individual shipyards draft contracts for outsourced labor, there will soon be one main contract the Navy will be able to draw from for the purpose of expanding outsourced labor for ship and submarine repair, a Navy official said on Tuesday.
“The major step we're taking is [Naval Sea Systems Command] is going to put in place what's called an [indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity] contract, which is a kind of centrally managed contract,” Naval Submarine Forces Commander Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher said at Sea-Air-Space. “We'll be able to put money in so that as we need outsourced labor, we just write it against that master contract.”
The effort has been ongoing for about eight to nine months, he said, predicting it will be finalized in the next several months.
“There's a few delays in getting the contract reviewed and all the legal plans done, but I think certainly by this summer, that will be in place,” he added. “Right now, each individual shipyard has to do their own. This will be a centrally managed one, so that we see the Navy just put a finger on the scale and be able to weigh against that contract.”
Gaucher said when studying the efficiency of shipyard work a year ago, he found that submarine availabilities were typically planned when only 87% of the necessary resources were available. Faced with this gap in resources, as well as shipyard workers, outsourcing to industry is a solution, he found. As a result, the Navy has been steadily increasing its outsourcing, he said.
Additive manufacturing has been a game changer when it comes to critical parts shortages, Gaucher added. By fiscal year 2026, Gaucher said his team has told him there will be enough data for certain materials, so they can easily be 3D printed, installed and tested.
The state of U.S. shipbuilding and repairs has been heavily discussed at this week’s Sea-Air-Space, with officials and industry leaders trading ideas on potential solutions for shipbuilding delays, supply chain issues, and retaining a workforce.
“The solutions are out there,” U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle said Tuesday. “We just have to be open and honest about the conversation about the problems and the perspective about the scale of those problems and then find ways to unite our collective energies by solving those problems without a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 event motivating us.”
Moves have been made in past months to improve both shipyard conditions and output, with the creation of a new White House shipbuilding office and the bipartisan “Save Our Shipyards Act of 2025,” which would create a commission to investigate the current condition of the U.S. maritime industry.