VT Halter Marine wins Navy order worth potential $244 million

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 — VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, MS, has been awarded a $77,898,158 Navy contract for the detail design and construction of the Auxiliary Personnel Lighter – Small (APL(S)).

According to a presolicitation issued last year, the “APL(S) barracks craft will provide berthing and messing facilities for sailors while their ships are in port for availabilities and Inter-Deployment Training Cycles (IDTC). APL(S) will support up to an aircraft carrier (CVN) size ship with berthing for approximately 600 personnel and messing for approximately 1,100 personnel. APL(S) will be a non-self-propelled craft designed to be towed to bases or shipyards where ship availabilities are being conducted. Facilities on-board the APL(S) will include classrooms, conference rooms, administrative offices, disbursing office, galley, mess, scullery, post office, convenience store, barbershop, entertainment room, lounges, laundry facilities, physical fitness center, chaplain’s office, medical complex, quarterdeck, equipment/machinery rooms, and various storerooms.”

As these craft are similar to accommodation barges used in the commercial oil and gas industry, APL(S) was determined to be a commercial item and is being acquired under the procedures in Federal Acquisition Regulations Part 12 “Acquisition of Commercial Items”.

The initial contract is for the detail design and construction of the lead and second craft in the APL(S) 67 class. The contract includes options for four additional craft and associated crew familiarization and packaging and delivery, which, if exercised, would bring its cumulative value of to $244,065,420.

Work will be performed in Pascagoula, MS, (58 percent); the remaining 42 percent will be performed in the following areas: Mandeville, Louisiana; Metairie, Louisiana; Gautier, Mississippi; Billerica, Massachusetts; Boca Raton, Florida; and is expected to be completed by July 2020. Fiscal 2018 and 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amounts of $38,957,903, and $38,940,255, respectively, will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

The contract was a limited competition between VT Halter Marine Inc. and Bollinger Shipyards Inc. under 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(3) implemented at Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-3. Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services.

The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-2230).