In this 2022 photo, the future USS Oregon (SSN 793) makes its way under the Gold Star Bridge after departing General Dynamics Electric Boat on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 enroute to Submarine Base New London. U.S. Navy / John Narewski
The Pentagon is paying a consultant up to $2.4B to boost submarine production
Deloitte Consulting is to provide the labor, equipment, and materials to push annual U.S. production to three subs.
Deloitte Consulting has won a potential five-year, $2.4 billion contract to work with the Navy and Defense Department on their efforts to modernize and expand the submarine industrial base.
Workforce development is one of several aspects Deloitte will seek to help the Navy and DOD's Innovation Capability and Modernization Office address, as part of their larger effort to address regional and broader challenges in submarine manufacturing.
Awarded on Monday, the contract has an initial one-year base period and up to four option years. The General Services Administration managed the procurement for the Navy and DOD.
Solicitation documents describe the Navy's goal as being able to "rapidly reach and sustain a programmed production rate of 1+2 submarines per year with a predominant emphasis on closing associated industrial workforce gaps."
The scope of the challenge to accomplish that is vast. The Navy, submarine makers and the latter's suppliers need more than 100,000 workers over the next decade to build more subs.
As Defense One reported in June, a series of advertising campaigns on TV and at professional sporting events run by the BlueForge Alliance are a part of that push to get the word out.
Virginia's state government is also backing the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing initiative, which gives workers four months of free training to get certifications in skillsets directly tied to submarine manufacturing.
Regarding the contract itself: Deloitte will act as the enterprise integration partner responsible for providing the needed labor, equipment, and materials to the Navy and DOD.
A second major goal of the effort is to accelerate the development and adoption of more modern manufacturing techniques and processes across the U.S.' maritime supply chain.
Shipyard infrastructure, supplier development, and strategic outsourcing represent other major focus areas of the contract.
Correction: An earlier headline misstated the entity that let the contract. It is the Defense Department, not the Navy itself.