Page 29: of Marine News Magazine (June 2020)

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COMBAT & PATROL CRAFT ! "#$ %& operations. Agreeing on expectations by using this knowledge is essential. We know attention to the contract speci?ca- tions, drawings, statement of work and incorporated FAR [Federal Acquisition

Regulation], DFAR [Defense Federal

Acquisition Regulation Supplement] and special clauses prior to production commencing will allow everyone to be on the same page. This is very impor- tant as the program progresses, especial- ly as complex as the craft are now.

“Bottom line, the collaboration be- tween USMI and its customers reduc- es risk in many areas including cost,”

Dreyfus says. “USMI is proud of the fact that our contracts rarely if ever ex- perience cost growth for ?rm ?xed price production craft. We would rather lose a contract competition than low ball it and request addition funding later on in the program.” That’s integrity.

“Integrity means doing right is more important than being right, as in should an issue arise in a program it is impor- tant to bring it to customer’s attention as soon as noticed, even if the fault lies in our court.”

Asked about recent trends in the con- struction of patrol and combat craft,

Dreyfus says customers are putting more importance on the total ownership cost including fuel cost, maintainability, supportability and reliability. “Advances in technology are increasing the reliabil- ity and ef?ciencies of the systems on the vessels and allowing builders like USMI, who are capable of leveraging the capa- bilities of a wide variety of materials, to build a composite boat, and offer a product that is far superior.”

Boat building has come a long way in the past 40 years, and aluminum is no 29 www.marinelink.com MN