"LCS: U.S. Navy Complied with Regulations, but..." Topic

… Quality Problems Persisted after Delivery.

"The U.S. Navy decisions to accept the first two littoral combat ships (LCS)—LCS 1 and LCS 2—in incomplete, deficient conditions complied with the Federal Acquisition Regulation's (FAR) acceptance provisions, largely due to the cost-reimbursement type contracts in place to construct these ships.

The Navy also met FAR requirements related to responsibility for and place of acceptance, among other provisions, by using an authorized Navy representative to accept each ship at its respective contractor's facility. Under the cost-reimbursement contracts, the LCS 1 and LCS 2 prime contractors were only required to give their best efforts to complete quality-related activities—along with the other work specified in the contracts—up to each contract's estimated cost. These efforts resulted in both ships not completing all required sea trials—tests that evaluate ships' overall quality and performance against contractual requirements—including acceptance and final contract trials.

Not completing these trials increased knowledge gaps related to ship performance and deficiencies. In addition, LCS 1 and LCS 2 did not meet the quality standards outlined in the Navy's ship acceptance policy, although the policy also contains several notable flexibilities to these standards. In particular, the policy recognizes situations where the Navy may defer work until after delivery and final acceptances and affords the Chief of Naval Operations the authority to waive certain quality standards outlined in the policy. The Navy relied extensively on these waivers to facilitate its trials and acceptance processes for LCS 1 and LCS 2…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Maybe we should just be buying our ships overseas.

Oh, we're doing that, too, Striker. Where do you think a lot of the new high speed vessels are coming from?

Looks like we need to make a "ship will be ready to pass all trials and the builder is financially responsible for making it so" clause into new contracts.