Australia issues RFT for frigate maintenance

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CANBERRA, Australia, May 8 (UPI) -- Australia's military issued a Request for Tender for repair and maintenance of the country's fleet of Adelaide class frigates.

Australian Minister for Defense Materiel Mike Kelly said the RFT for the Group Maintenance Contract underlines the government's commitment to better contracting processes in the naval repair sector.

"This is the second of the grouped-asset, long-term, performance-based contracts for the repair and maintenance of the Navy's major surface ships," Kelly said in a release.

"The DMO (Defense Materiel Organization) has now received all the technical clearances necessary to release the tender documentation to the three 'short-listed' companies: BAE Systems, Rolls Royce/KBR and Thales Australia."

The contract issued would be for five years and provides for year-to-year extensions.

The first Group Maintenance contract for ANZAC class frigates was awarded last year.

"Already under the first contract with Naval Ship Management (Australia), a joint venture between Babcock and United Group Infrastructure, Defense is reporting savings on a like-for-like scope of work in the order of 20 percent," Kelly said.

"We have long recognized that the grouping or 'batching' of ship repair and maintenance events offers the potential for real savings by reducing the administrative burden of per-event tender contracting, providing greater certainty of revenue streams and work effort, and promoting better planning."