Bath Iron Works has been awarded a $202.7 million contract from the Navy to provide planning yard services for two classes of U.S. warships.
BIW will provide the services for DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and for decommissioned FFG-7 frigates, according to a news release from U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine.
The cost-plus-award-fee contract has options that could increase its value to $1.1 billion. The work will be performed in Bath through July 2029.
Planning yard services include functions such as design, material kitting, logistics and project planning.
“The dedicated, highly skilled men and women that make up Bath Iron Works demonstrate that Bath-built is best built,” Collins and King said in a joint statement.
“Military engagements in the Red Sea this year have only confirmed this fact, as Bath-built ships continue to play a critical role in protecting the global free trade system from terrorist threats.
“Planning yard work is an essential element of sustaining BIW’s design and engineering workforce,” the senators continued. “We will continue our efforts to ensure that the shipyard has the resources it needs to construct these critical elements of our national security that protect our interests around the globe.”
Bath Iron Works, which produces Navy destroyers, was founded in 1884 and is owned by Reston, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), a global defense and aerospace company. The 6,500 BIW employees account for 12% of Maine’s manufacturing workforce.