BATH

On Thursday, the U.S. Navy announced a contract modification of $18,289,531 to Bath Iron Works.

“This contract modification will provide funding we had anticipated receiving for future work. It allows us to continue to support the Navy’s LCS program with planning yard services,” said Matt Wickenheiser, manager of communications and public relations at BIW.

The modification is “to exercise option year two to provide Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) planning yard services supporting LCS Class in-service ships.” The funding will allow BIW to continue providing engineering, planning, ship configuration, and material and logistics support to all LCS ships.

LCS Class ships are smaller vessels meant to operate in the littoral zone — close to the shore. The ships are meant to be versatile, able to operate close to shore or in the open ocean. They can handle a variety of threats, including mines, submarines and surface ships. The LCS program is currently divided into two classes, the Freedom class and Independence class. BIW is the sole provider of maintenance and modernization for both classes.

BIW won the original work in 2014 after a competitive bid process. The original Navy release notes that if all options are exercised, the contract could be worth $100,418,069. With this most recent modification, the Navy has awarded $3,500,000 for the 2016 fiscal year.

• LCS CLASS SHIPS are smaller vessels meant to operate in the littoral zone — close to the shore. The ships are meant to be versatile, able to operate close to shore or in the open ocean. They can handle a variety of threats, including mines, submarines and surface ships.

nstrout@timesrecord.com

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