Page 39: of Marine News Magazine (November 2023)

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‘Vessel Construction Manager (VCM)’

When asked about new industry trends and develop- ments Paxton and Zorensky quickly referenced delivery, in September, of Philly Shipyard’s Empire State, the new purpose-built training vessel for the SUNY Maritime Col- lege, the ? rst of a number of such vessels to be built U.S.’s state maritime academies over the next few years.

Paxton and Zorensky’s reference wasn’t just to the ship, although the vessel itself and its dual capabilities for training and humanitarian missions surely deserves atten- tion. Rather, their comments focused on a new business model. More speci? cally, a Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) contract model, a programmatic requirement set by Congress in the 2017 National Defense Authorization

Act, directing MARAD to “provide for an entity other than the Maritime Administration to contract for the construction of the NSMV” (i.e., the National Security

Multi-Mission Vessel, a broader descriptor for the new training ships.

The Empire State is the ? rst vessel built within the VCM framework. Paxton and Zorensky commented emphati- cally: A success. Do it again. It was the VCM model that kept the NSMV on schedule and within budget, obviously signi? cant attributes for shipbuilders, their customers and, in this case, U.S. taxpayers.

Readers may recognize a number of events aligning here.

After Congress set the VCM demand MARAD announced in 2019 that it selected Tote Services, Inc., of Jacksonville,

Fla., as NSMV Vessel Construction Manager. Tote’s charge was to oversee and manage detailed design, construction, testing and delivery.

Signi? cantly TOTE Services was also tasked with issu- ing a request-for-proposals to shipyards. In April 2020,

TOTE Services awarded Philly Shipyard a contract to con- struct up to ? ve NSMVs. Keel laying for the Empire State was in May 2021.

Ben Christian is TOTE Services’ VP for Business Devel- opment and New Construction. John Bond is Project Di- rector and NSMV Program Manager for Philly Shipyard,

Inc. The two were asked for their insights and advisories about the VCM process and the Empire State project.

The Empire State required a new kind of commitment from the contract manager, the shipyard and MARAD,

Christian said. “It took some time to get this right,” he add- www.marinelink.com MN 39|