NSRP Seeks New Research Proposals

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013

New coatings and surface prep technologies and other solutions for decreasing ship ownership costs, improving standards and reducing environmental impacts are some of the goals for a new round of funding from the National Shipbuilding Research Program.

NSRP Advanced Shipbuilding Enterprise (ASE) has announced that it is seeking summary proposals for the funding, anticipated to be $8 million to $10 million, as part of the program's goal to reduce the cost of building and maintaining U.S. Navy ships.

Photos: NSRP

An anticipated $8 million to $10 million in funding will be available for projects that can reduce the cost of building, operating and repairing U.S. Navy ships.

Photos: NSRP

An anticipated $8 million to $10 million in funding will be available for projects that can reduce the cost of building, operating and repairing U.S. Navy ships.

The program focuses on industry-wide solutions to common cost drivers using best commercial practices, new technologies, and industry-specific initiatives.

NSRP is a collaboration of U.S. shipyards working together to reduce the cost of building, operating and repairing Navy ships. 

Successful Projects

The full research announcement is posted on the NSRP and Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) websites.

Successful projects incorporate "aggressive technology" that could be implemented in multiple U.S. shipyards, demonstrate value, and reduce total ownership costs, according to NSRP.

Proposals are sought that can achieve one or more of the following:

• Improved quality in ship construction and/or repair;
• Reduction in total ownership cost of ships;
• Improved energy efficiency or environmental impact in shipyards or ships; and
• Reduced cost associated with systems integration during ship construction, modernization and maintenance.

The deadline for summary proposals is noon ET Oct. 23. Project selections will be announced around February 2014.

NSRP is looking for projects that incorporate "aggressive technology" and could be implemented across U.S. shipyards, demonstrate value and reduce total ownership cost. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT

A Proposal Preparation Kit details the proposal submission and selection process, contracting requirements and

Major Focus Areas

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Major focus areas of particular interest to the Navy and NSRP ASE include:

• Promoting modular construction (e.g., equipment protection, network consolidation, standardization of interfaces);
• Total ownership cost (e.g., advanced materials that reduce ship operating and maintenance costs, design for maintenance and repair);
• Improving integration of shipboard warfare systems;
• Reducing re-work (e.g., first time quality initiatives, process control via statistical analysis of accuracy);
• Improving production engineering (e.g., development and implementation of best practices related to process technologies, build strategy and design for affordability);
• Improving specifications and standards (e.g., eliminate unecessary/redundant requirements);
• Improving manufacturing processes (e.g., surface preparation and coatings process improvements);
• Improving production planning (e.g., optimized sequencing of work);
• Improving data exchange (e.g., integrating internal systems);
• Improving safety and health/reducing environmental impacts (e.g., reducing injuries and associated costs, ensuring environmental and safety compliance); and
• Improving education and training (e.g., standardization across industry).

More information can be found in the NSRP Strategic Investment Plan.

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Editor's Note: On Aug. 19, NSRP issued a revised version of Research Announcement (RA) 12-01 (Version 2.0), to include an alternate method for the submission of summary proposals. Proposers may either submit summary proposals via the SCRA secure file transfer protocol (FTP) site or electronic copy via mail.