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The U.S. Navy has formally opened competition for the massive Multi-Mission Dry Dock redevelopment at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, creating a construction-contract vehicle with an aggregate ceiling of $15 billion. The September 30 solicitation anticipates roughly five contractors and major task orders typically worth $2 billion to $6 billion each, with bids due December 1 and award targeted for 2027. Separately, the Navy’s FY2027 budget documents request $14.76 billion in total project authorization for the wider Puget Sound drydock project, which GAO says is planned for completion in 2038. The new 1,210-foot drydock would become the only Navy drydock in the Pacific capable of depot-level maintenance on Ford-class aircraft carriers, while also supporting Nimitz-class carriers, Virginia-class submarines and other nuclear vessels.
One New Drydock Will Carry a Large Share of Pacific Carrier Maintenance Risk
Puget Sound has the West Coast's only public drydock capable of handling a nuclear aircraft carrier, but that 1962 facility cannot fully support Ford-class carriers and does not meet current seismic requirements. The replacement is being designed as a century-scale piece of naval infrastructure.
NAVFAC posts the formal Multi-Mission Dry Dock MACC competition.
Navy and potential prime contractors meet on the mega-project acquisition.
Contractors submit proposals for the multiple-award vehicle.
Site preparation, demolition, relocation, dredging and cofferdam work precede the main drydock structure.
Navy planning calls for the new facility to be completed and certified by the end of the program sequence.
This Is Much More Than Digging a Bigger Hole
The preferred plan requires dismantling part of an operating nuclear shipyard, moving critical industrial functions elsewhere and rebuilding the waterfront around a drydock large enough to sustain future carrier and submarine maintenance.
| Workstream | Core Scope | What Has to Move or Disappear | What Gets Built | Why It Matters Operationally | Execution Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Package | EARLY WATERFRONT WORK Dredging + Cofferdam | Existing piers, buildings and upland utility infrastructure must be demolished or cleared. | Shoring, cutoff walls, double-wall cofferdam, dredged construction area and ground improvements. | Creates a dry and structurally controlled construction environment inside a working naval waterfront. | Marine construction must proceed without disabling ongoing carrier, submarine and recycling work elsewhere at the shipyard. |
| Drydock Structure | CORE MEGA-PROJECT 1,210 × 210 × 62 ft | Existing Dry Dock 3 ultimately disappears from the preferred construction footprint. | Pressure-relief system, dock floor, quay walls, entrance, pump wells, dewatering and flooding systems. | Gives Puget Sound a drydock capable of Ford-class, Nimitz-class and multiple submarine missions. | Massive excavation, groundwater control and construction sequencing drive cost and schedule uncertainty. |
| Industrial Infrastructure | FULL SUPPORT SYSTEM Utilities + Shops | Existing buildings, roads and utility pathways inside the construction zone must be removed or rerouted. | Electrical substations, utility tunnels, support buildings, process equipment, paving and portal-crane rails. | Ford-class maintenance requires much more than hull clearance. Electrical, cooling and industrial support capacity must scale with the ship. | Utility cutovers must occur around an active nuclear-maintenance mission. |
| Caisson | SPECIALIZED PACKAGE Fabrication + Delivery | Existing dock closure arrangements are replaced as the new facility comes online. | A dedicated caisson gate for flooding, dewatering and isolation of the new chamber. | The caisson is a mission-critical drydock component and may be procured as a separate construction package. | Fabrication quality, transportation and installation become separate schedule-critical interfaces. |
| Facility Relocation | SHIPYARD RECONFIGURATION Bremerton + Bangor | Dry Dock 3, Piers 6 and 7, Hammerhead Crane, forge functions and multiple support facilities are affected by the preferred alternative. | New forge shop and expanded Radio Hill complex at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor plus replacement support facilities at Bremerton. | The Navy is effectively rearranging major portions of the industrial base while keeping maintenance production running. | Temporary leased space and relocations must work before existing facilities can be demolished. |
| Seismic Resilience | DESIGN REQUIREMENT 2,475-Year Event | Existing West Coast carrier capacity does not meet current required seismic criteria. | New structures designed for modern seismic resiliency and a long service life. | A major earthquake cannot be allowed to remove the Navy's principal Pacific nuclear-carrier maintenance capability. | Puget Sound geology and seismic requirements contribute materially to engineering complexity and cost. |
Ford-Class Drydock Cost & Schedule Stress Analyzer
Test how project delay, construction escalation and contingency could change the economics of the Puget Sound drydock program.
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