A $300 million maintenance and repair contract for the Anzac Class Frigates will be negotiated with Naval Ship Management Australia (a joint venture of Babcock Australia and United Group Infrastructure), following their selection as preferred tenderer.
Defense materiel minister, Kim Carr , said in his statement made on Wednesday: “ The grouping of ship repair and maintenance tasks offers the potential for significant cost savings .”
Prior to this new approach, each new maintenance activity was individually contracted out.
“ This initiative will provide industry with the predictability, certainty and stability that it needs to achieve efficiencies and provide job security for, and investment in, its workforce. This new contracting approach is good for industry, it is good for job security and development, it is good for Navy, and it is good for Australian taxpayers who rightly demand maximum efficiency from every dollar spent on Australia’s defence ” said minister Carr .
The contract negotiations will be put into final form most probably by June.
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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, February 29, 2012; Image: mil.nz