U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently joined two of his Republican colleagues from Louisiana in urging the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to include small and mid-sized domestic shipyards, including those in their home state, when awarding shipbuilding, repair, modernization, and sustainment contracts.
“Rebuilding domestic manufacturing and shipbuilding is essential to national security, fleet readiness, supply chain resilience, and the overall strength of the U.S. defense enterprise,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues in a Jan. 27 letter sent to the DOD Secretary.
“As the department’s “Arsenal of Freedom” tour underscores, national security and the peace of the world move at the speed of our defense industrial base and rely on the hard work and ingenuity of the American workforce,” they wrote.
The lawmakers pointed out that over the past two decades, repeated delays and capacity constraints at the nation’s largest prime shipyards have underscored the risks of concentrating shipbuilding and sustainment work among a small number of facilities, which have experienced persistent delivery delays and cost growth driven by workforce shortages, infrastructure limitations, supply chain challenges, and shipyards operating at near capacity.
“These systemic issues have persisted across multiple ship classes despite sustained federal investment, highlighting structural weaknesses in the shipbuilding industrial base,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) and U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).
They suggested that broadening participation to include capable small and mid-sized shipyards would help relieve pressure on over-extended prime contractors, improve schedule reliability, and strengthen overall maritime readiness.
“Louisiana’s small and mid-sized shipyards already operate in a manner consistent with the department’s stated aim to prioritize speed, innovation, and a “commercial-first” mindset in defense acquisition,” wrote the lawmakers.
As DOD evaluates current and future procurement strategies, they urged its consideration of approaches that broaden participation across the industrial base, including by structuring solicitations to allow capable small and mid-sized yards to compete on a level playing field.
In turn, this would help reduce unnecessary barriers to entry and bureaucratic red tape, and award contracts that “provide the stable, long-term demand signals necessary for industry to invest and expand.”