The Navy is standing up a new maritime industrial base program office and has tapped one of its career civil servants to take the helm.
Jay Stefany, who previously performed the duties of the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition (RDA), will lead the office as a direct reporting program manager, according to a Friday Navy news release.
“Building on the progress and achievements of the Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) and Surface Combatant Industrial Base (SCIB) programs, DPRM-MIB creates a cohesive organization focused on the health of the maritime industrial base centered on construction and sustainment,” the Navy said in the release.
Stefany will lead the new office as of Aug. 1 and relocate to the Washington Navy Yard, according to a June 3 memo, obtained by USNI News, that details the new office’s establishment. Both surface and submarine shipbuilding and sustainment will fall under the office’s purview.
“While this is not a formal Acquisition Category program, the size and scope of the program require it to be treated like a major acquisition category (ACAT 1) program,” reads the memo. “To that end, the program manager will be a fully acquisition certified executive dedicated full-time to this mission. The Program Manager will establish an acquisition strategy and a set of output performance metrics to guide this ACAT equivalent major program.”
In the new role, Stefany will report to Nickolas Guertin, the Navy’s chief acquisition executive, who signed the June 3 memo. Stefany is currently the principal civilian deputy to Guertin.
“The DRPM for MIB will play an instrumental role in realizing Secretary Del Toro’s vision to engage in a whole-of-government effort to rebuild the Nation’s comprehensive maritime power and position the Navy and industry to build the expanded surface and submarine fleet that is required to achieve our National Defense Strategy,” reads the Navy release.
Guertin wants an execution plan from Stefany, the program executive office for ships, the program executive office for strategic submarines, the commander of Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Reactors within a month of the office’s creation, according to the memo.
The new office’s formation follows the Navy’s push for a multi-billion dollar injection into the submarine industrial base to meet both the Navy’s acquisition priorities and support the AUKUS partnership between the U.S., the United Kingdom and the United States.
Navy officials say the U.S. industrial base must build 2.33 attack submarines and one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine per year in order to sell Virginia-class attack boats to the Australians under the AUKUS pact. Industry is currently building 1.3 attack boats per year.
While the submarine industrial base and surface combatant industrial base line items will continue through Fiscal Year 2026, Stefany will oversee the money moving forward, according to the memo.
Brett Seidle will succeed Stefany and become the new principal civilian deputy.
