Executive

Waste of the Day: New Ships Could Cost Billions More Than Navy Expects

Published

2 weeks ago

May 6, 2024

Topline: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that an upcoming shipbuilding project will cost $6.2 billion to $7.8 billion, roughly two to three times more than the Navy claimed in its plan submitted to Congress.

Is the Navy grossly underestimating the costs of shipbuilding?

Key facts: The CBO’s estimate assumes the Navy will build 18 medium landing ships. Military officials have said they might buy up to 35 boats, which the CBO says could cost up to $15 billion.

The boats will be used to deploy Marine Corps soldiers and missiles in the Western Pacific.

The Navy estimated that each ship will cost $150 million, but the CBO predicts they will cost up to $430 million each.

Waste of the Day: New Ships Could Cost Billions More Than Navy Expects — Waste of the Day 5.6.24 by Open the Books

The Navy is not even sure how much the boats will weigh, which is why the CBO provided a broad price estimate.

The CBO said calculating the estimate is a “challenge” because the Navy has not built many similar boats in the past. It did not explain why the Navy’s estimate is so much lower.

Despite the high cost, the ships are not expected to have the strong hull and complete safety features of a typical military boat. That would cost an extra $2 billion to $3 billion.

The Navy has been spending money on research for the ships since 2021 but none has been built yet. They said the first boat would arrive in 2023, but it’s been delayed to 2025.

This year’s budget request contains $268 million for the program.

Estimates all over the place

Critical quote: “Many facets of the program remain uncertain, such as the number of ships the Navy wants to buy, as well as the design and capabilities of the ship,” the CBO wrote. “Equally uncertain is the overall cost of the program, because the Navy’s estimates have varied widely in its last three shipbuilding plans and budget submissions.”

Summary: The Pentagon’s weapons projects often take more time and money to complete than expected. It’s important that projections are not flawed before development even begins.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) is the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski lives in Hinsdale, Illinois with his wife Kerry and three daughters. He is a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and has finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).