Lean fiscal times influence design of new Coast Guard cutter program.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Homeland Security News

* With a proposed fleet of 25 ships, and an expected budget of $8 billion, the Coast Guard's Offshore Patrol Cutter is drawing intense interest from both shipbuilders and budget watchers on Capitol Hill.

Work on the OPC has not yet begun in earnest, but Coast Guard acquisition officials are indicating that it will be a ship for its times. And these are times of fiscal restraint.

"For the OPC, we have spent a great deal of time looking at cost and affordability," Rear Adm. John Korn, chief of Coast Guard acquisitions, said at the service's innovation expo in Tampa, Fla.

Indeed, saving money in a time of expected shrinking federal budgets is already having an impact on the design of the ship even though there has not been a request for proposals.

The Coast Guard asked industry for its ideas about the ship based on preliminary requirements for what the Coast Guard would like to see. It asked potential contract bidders not only what they could provide, but what they could do in terms of reducing operational and design costs.

The acquisitions office is about 75 percent through reviewing the information, Korn said.

Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr., commandant on the Coast Guard, testified on Capitol Hill earlier in the month that the service is "employing a very deliberate process" to ensure that it can deliver a ship that is both affordable and meets all the operational requirements.

Capt. Lisa Festa, program manager for surface acquisition projects, declined to say exactly when a request for proposals would be released. She would only say that it would not be as long as two years. There is money in the 2012 fiscal year budget to award preliminary contract design awards, she said.

"It's going to be difficult to meet that date," she said. "We still have a number of things to work out and vet throughout the building and throughout the Department [of Homeland Security] before we release the RFR."

Korn said: "We are dedicated to meeting those minimum requirements. We think we can get within an affordable range using commercial practices" rather than methods used to build combatant ships. Industry came through with several ideas to reduce costs, he added.

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The Coast Guard has already made some budget-based decisions as far as what the ship will not feature. Gas turbine engines and a system to launch small boats from the stern are two ideas that have already been rejected, he said.

The service has touted the launching of small tactical...