The following is the March 26, 2024 Congressional Research Service report, Navy John Lewis (TAO-205) Class Oiler Shipbuilding Program: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
The Navy procured its first John Lewis (TAO-205) class oiler in FY2016, and a total of 10 have been procured through FY2024. The first six were procured under a block buy contract authorized by Section 127 of the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (S. 1356/P.L. 114-92 of November 25, 2015). TAO-205s are being built by General Dynamics/National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (GD/NASSCO) of San Diego, CA. The first TAO-205 was delivered to the Navy on July 26, 2022, and the second was delivered on July 11, 2023.
Current Navy plans call for procuring a total of 20 TAO-205s. The Navy’s FY2025 budget submission programs the procurement of the next two TAO-205s (which would be the 11th and 12th ships in the class) for FY2026, and does not request any funding for FY2025 for the procurement of additional TAO-205s. The Navy’s proposed FY2025 budget does request $227.2 million in cost-to-complete funding to cover cost growth on TAO-205s procured in prior fiscal years.
Section 128 of the FY2023 NDAA (H.R. 7776/P.L. 117-263 of December 23, 2022) provides authority for the Navy during FY2023 and FY2024 to use multiyear contracting to procure not more than eight TAO-205s. Using multiyear contracting in the form of a multiyear procurement (MYP) contract would require additional approval in a DOD appropriations act. Using multiyear contracting in the form of a block buy contract would not require additional approval in a DOD appropriations act—the authorization provided by Section 128 of the FY2023 NDAA would be sufficient for using a block buy contract.
Issues for Congress include the following:
- cost growth and schedule delays in the TAO-205 program;
- whether to procure in FY2025 no TAO-205 class ship (as programmed in the Navy’s FY2025 budget submission), one TAO-205 class ship, or two TAO-205 class ships;
- whether to procure TAO-205s in FY2024 and subsequent years under MYP or block buy contract;
- issues regarding the TAO-205 program discussed in a June 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report and a January 2024 Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) report; and
- whether to encourage or direct the Navy to build TAO-205s with more ship self-defense equipment than currently planned by the Navy.
Download the document here.
