Defence has issued a request for information (RFI) to ‘gain an appreciation’ of Australian industry capabilities to design, manufacture and sustain military sea boats.
Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group’s (CASG) First Assistant Secretary Ships, Sheryl Lutz, said the four-week RFI would help inform procurement options for Australian-manufactured sea boats.
“The RFI will help CASG determine a baseline level of Australian Industry Content to inform future sea boat procurements across the RAN,” Lutz said. “The military sea boat is launched and recovered from a warship or submarine for the purpose of conducting naval operations at sea and is considered an essential enabler of maritime capability.”
ADM has previously exposed significant shortcomings in RAN’s existing fleet of J3 RHIBs, including a number of capsizing events, their subsequent inability to carry enough operators to board large vessels in rough seas, and their contribution to high rates of chronic medical issues amongst RAN’s most experienced personnel with no exposure management or health monitoring system in place.
“The objectives of the RFI include establishing what Australian industry capabilities currently exist, and could potentially be developed, to design, manufacture and support sea boats for the RAN,” Lutz said. “Normally Defence would host industry briefings around the country for such a significant RFI, however, given the current government guidelines around COVID-19 and mass gatherings we have pursued alternative information sharing options such as social media.”
The RFI closes on April 30, 2020.
More information is available in this week’s ADM Tenders.