You're entirely correct. It must contract one from private industry. First, it must state what the rowboat is for. "To transport men or equipment upon the water in conditions where motorization is not present, or its use is not desired." Transport men...how many men? How much equipment? "Four men, or 600 lbs of equipment."
A Request for Information gets presented to the industry asking it to submit their design ideas for a "vessel capable of transporting four men or 600 lbs of equipment upon calm water (sea state 0 or 1,) or two men or 300 lbs of equipment in sea state 2 or 3, propelled by a single individual without motorized support."
A dozen companies submit their existing "off the shelf" row boats. The Navy was unaware there were choices in materials, and asks industry for reports further clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of wood and aluminum. It also asks for estimates of achievable top speeds, and likely cruising speeds.
Navsea then sits down to sift through the data. It looks into the costs of wood and aluminum. It reads the industry reports on advantages and disadvantages of them. It decides neither material is entirely satisfactory, and asks industry if titanium is feasible. Upon learning that it is, it asks for more industry reports on the details of titanium. Upon learning titanium will hold more, the requirement is changed to hold 8 people or 1,200 pounds of equipment, up to sea state 3. New designs come in. It is discovered a vessel this large is not optimally powered by one individual, so two are added. Now, the data shows a machine gun can be added if the boat length is increased by a couple of feet. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) now expresses concern. At this price, the Navy can no longer afford its related SEAL Inflatable Boat. A decision is made to combine the programs, since both are essentially manually powered water vessels.
Titanium is found to not be inflatable, and is additionally highly radar reflective, negating one of the main goals of the SEAL Inflatable Boat. Navsea notes that wood makes a fine compromise, and was one of the originally proposed materials.
A Request for Proposals goes out to industry for a stealthy wooden vessel, powered by two individuals, capable of transporting 8 men, or 1,200 lbs of equipment, and a machine gun in sea state 3.
But, wood is not as strong as titanium, so the high loads requested require either a bigger wooden vessel than specified, or a more heavily reinforced one. Navsea learns that the special ops community can not use one that is any bigger because it must fit inside a CV-22. It can accept one more reinforced, as long as the weight does not exceed the carrying limits of the aircraft.
Navsea now submits a Request for Information to industry asking for "off the shelf" reinforced wooden row boats below the weight limit, and learns no civilian company has such a thing in their inventory, but all will be happy to design one.
At this point, the row boat has been under consideration for two years, and development costs are around $1 million. Navsea learns that industry will design a reinforced wooden row boat to the existing spec for $100 million for the whole program. OMB now says that the project is unfeasible. Navsea needs to make cuts.
Navsea is in a tough place. Rubber--while quite affordable, and satisfying the spec warfare requirement--is not as durable as titanium, the desired material, nor even wood, which is comparatively maitenance-intensive in addition. Someone remembers aluminum from the program's early days. It costs about as much as wood, but has lower maintenance lifetime costs. It is more radar reflective, but if the sides are wrapped in a coating material, that can be reduced below even the level of wood. If both spec warfare and the regular Navy reduce the originally planned numbers, OMB gives a green light.
A Request for Proposals goes out to industry for an aluminum vessel with special radar reducing coating, powered by two individuals, for transporting 8 people or 1,200 lbs of equipment, and a machine gun, in sea state 3, under the specified weight limit, total program to be completed for $75 million dollars. They get 3 bids. They choose a company, and sign a contract. The total number of row boats needed by the regular Navy is 250, while the spec warfare community wants another 500 of the new SEAL Armed Aluminum Boats.
750 boats for $75 million plus $1.1 million development costs. $101,467/row boat.
No, we can't build a row boat. But, we sure can buy them!
(See what happens when you're retired, and a bit bored on a weekend?)
NT
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