Ronald Reagan is the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier and began its SRA for restoration work, maintenance and repairs after returning to Yokosuka last November from a six-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Knowing that I was supporting the Navy’s only aircraft carrier stationed overseas made it arguably the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on,” said U.S. Navy Reservist Lt. David Kors. “I found it satisfying to help my NAVSUP team and our Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) mission partner to keep Ronald Reagan’s maintenance availability on schedule so she could return to sea.”
Kors serves as a contracting officer onboard Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando, Florida and utilized his civilian experience to support NAVSUP during its maintenance period.
For a period of five weeks, Kors assisted with numerous contract modifications as a result of growth work discovered during Ronald Reagan’s SRA. These modifications ensure that the necessary terms, conditions and funding are adjusted accordingly to make the contract accurately capture all of the work needing to be completed. “Growth work” is typically the discovery of unknown issues on the ship that is impossible to determine during contract pre-award. There are many reasons why growth work is added. One example is the discovery of rust once initial layers have been removed from the ship’s deck or bulkheads.
The timely adjustment of shipyard contracts to accommodate changing workload was very important so that any additional work can still be accomplished in time to meet the ship’s original maintenance completion date. If that date is missed, it delays the ship from getting underway on time to execute U.S. 7th Fleet assigned tasking.
“A ship's maintenance availability is always a huge project, but specific to Ronald Reagan, we work through many additional challenges here in Japan,” said Capt. Fred Goldhammer, commanding officer of Ronald Reagan.
From Florida, Kors worked during Japan’s business hours, a 13-hour difference, allowing him to coordinate with NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka’s ship repair contracts division and personnel onboard SRF-JRMC. Kors reported that scheduling work to complement the team in Japan made it easier to address complicated issues.
With an ambitious SRA planned for Ronald Reagan, NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka’s ship repair contracting team receivied a high volume of requests for contract modifications with short turnaround times. Kors seamlessly augmented NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka’s permanent contracting teams by expediting 37 time-sensitive modifications for hull preservation work, non-skid deck restoration, hydraulic system repairs and weapons system maintenance.
“As a civilian, I use the same contract writing system as my colleagues use in Yokosuka,” said Kors. “So I skipped the learning curve and gave them exactly what they needed—a good amount of relief on a large project.”
Ronald Reagan completed their maintenance availability on time and deployed soon after.
NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka is one of eight FLCs under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP’s mission is to provide supplies, services, and quality-of-life support to the Navy and the joint warfighter.