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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
Program Assessment

Program

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Navy Shipbuilding

The purpose of the Navy shipbuilding program is to buy new ships and overhaul existing ones. New ships are built at six privately-owned shipyards. Overhauls of existing ships are performed at both privately-owned and publicly-owned shipyards. The Navy currently has 276 ships in the fleet.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • The Navy has specific cost, schedule, and performance goals for each shipbuilding program. The Navy conducts periodic reviews of programs at major milestones of development and uses a structured reporting regime to help monitor the status of ship cost, schedule, and performance.
  • Shipbuilding program performance is often hindered by industrial base, political, and budgetary pressures. The Navy's long-term plan is for a fleet size of 313 ships by FY 2020. Given future decomissionings and affordability issues with the ship construction plan, it may be difficult for the Navy to meet its fleet size requirement.
  • The Navy has experienced cost increases and schedule slips on some ship construction programs, although overall performance is adequate. For example, the first Virginia Class submarine was only 89 percent complete in FY 2003 when the target was 92 percent. In addition, the cost of the first Virginia class submarine increased by 24 percent in FY 2002.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Improving cost estimates for shipbuilding programs or, in some cases, ensuring the Department of Defense fully budgets to the estimates.
  • Ensuring that shipbuilding decisions are made with long-term fleet size and capability goals in mind.

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