TOTE Services to Manage Construction of MARAD Missile Range Instrumentation Vessels
TOTE Services, LLC, a U.S. maritime services company specializing in vessel construction management and ship management, signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Transportation - Maritime Administration (MARAD) to serve as vessel construction manager (VCM) for the Missile Range Instrumentation Vessel (MRIV) program. The MRIV will support the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in advancing national security.
Immediately following this award, TOTE Services also executed a shipyard subcontract with Hanwha Philly Shipyard (HPSI) to construct the first MRIV. This ship will be the first in a planned series of vessels for MDA.
The MRIV program was announced this summer by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought. Since then, TOTE Services has been working as VCM to negotiate and finalize contract terms, advance the vessel design and secure firm fixed pricing. In traditional government shipbuilding, this process could extend to a year or more. Because MARAD has elected to build these ships using the VCM model, TOTE Services can accelerate the design and negotiation timeline and complete these tasks in less than three months.
The MRIV design is based on the National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV), which have been built at HPSI under TOTE Services’ management. The MRIV has the same hull design and an overall 70% commonality with the proven NSMV design, reducing construction risk to enable a faster, more reliable construction process.
The VCM approach offers advantages over traditional government acquisition strategies, reducing acquisition costs by at least 50%. By defining requirements upfront and approving change orders quickly, the model improves schedule certainty and ensures vessels are mission-ready when they are delivered.
HPSI will build the MRIV using the active production line, existing supply chain, and workforce already in place from the NSMV program.
As the current ship manager and operator of the existing MARAD and MDA vessels, Pacific Tracker and Pacific Collector, TOTE Services brings operational and technical expertise to the MRIV program. The MRIV vessels will replace the Pacific Tracker and Pacific Collector, built in 1965 and 1970, which currently support missile range instrumentation missions. The program is an interagency collaboration between the Department of Transportation, the Department of War, and MDA, under the existing VCM contract vehicle between the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) and TOTE Services. The first MRIV is scheduled for delivery in 2030.
