Navy Buys 2nd LCS from Austal

From the May 1st DoD contract list.

General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works (BIW), Bath, Maine, is being awarded contract N00024-09-C-2302 for Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) FY09 Flight 0+ ship construction, class design services, configuration management services, additional crew and shore support, special studies and post delivery support. As this award represents Phase I of a competitive two-phased acquisition approach to procure FY09/FY10 LCS, with Phase II including potential award of up to three additional LCS Flight 0+ Class ships, the award amount is considered source selection information (see FAR 2.101 and 3.104) and will not be made public at this time. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala., (50 percent); Bath, Maine, (17 percent); Pittsfield, Mass., (14 percent); Ottowa, Ontario, (2 percent); California, Md., (1 percent); Baltimore, Md., (1 percent); Leesburg, Va., (1 percent); Burlington, Vt., (1 percent); and various locations of less than 1 percent each totaling 13 percent, and work is expected to be completed by June 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity (N00024-09-C-2302).

Fort Worth and now Coronado are being built under very creative contracting. So creative in fact, they don't tell us the cost of the ships because even the Navy doesn't know what the final cost will be due to more ships being inserted into the contract.

This type of contracting either becomes a really good deal for the Navy, or a really bad deal. I also wonder if the final cost will be anywhere near the $460 million price cap for LCS.