U.S. Navy Seeks Contractors for $15 Billion Puget Sound Shipyard Upgrade

The U.S. Navy is moving towards the selection of a contractor for its massive Bremerton naval shipyard overhaul, one of the largest maritime infrastructure projects in the Northwest in a generation. The $15 billion project includes the construction of a massive new drydock for aircraft carriers at Naval Base Kitsap, plus related improvements to the adjacent waterfront.

Most of the existing shipyard at the Bremerton base dates back to the turn of the 20th century and is now well over 100 years old. The newest drydock was built during the Cold War. All of it was laid out for an earlier era of shipbuilding and an earlier generation of Navy tonnage; modern supercarriers are far bigger than the vessels in service in the 1890s.

The multi-award contract will offer up to five prime contractors the opportunity to split up the project into sections, each allocation valued at $1 billion minimum. Various phases of design and construction will be awarded to the selected contractors as the project progresses, generally in tranches of several billion dollars at a time.

"This project is a massive engineering undertaking that will require the highest levels of industry expertise," said Capt. Troy Brown, the project officer for Multi-Mission Dry Dock, in a statement earlier this year. "We encourage companies of all sizes, including our local and regional small businesses, to review the Sources Sought notice . . . Partnering with us means joining the team directly responsible for delivering the foundation of fleet readiness."

The objective of the overhaul is to give the Bremerton yard - the heart of the area's local economy - the capacity it needs to keep overhauling the nuclear-powered carrier and submarine fleet. It is the only West Coast yard certified to do nuclear carrier refueling, a deep, multi-year overhaul process.

The scope of work for installing a new carrier-sized drydock at an existing yard is massive. The site will need demolition of existing facilities, installation of new tunnels, substations, rail systems, crane tracks, flooding and dewatering systems, and new off-site facilities for relocating some existing functions.

Bids are due by December 1, and contractor selection is expected in 2027. Physical site work could begin as early as 2030, according to the GAO's estimates. The independent auditing agency believes that the overall Navy-wide public yard upgrade program will cost about $200 billion and take approximately 50 years to complete, based upon its own analysis of planning documents.