Waterfront Partnership – Integration and Cooperation in Submarine Repair

HMCS Victoria Repair Work Period was a strategic partnership between a naval repair facility and an industry partner fostering ground up cultural change and pushing the limits of integration at the waterfront. Many traditionalists might argue that partnering with industry via in-service-support (ISS) contracts is a precursor to rendering naval maintenance facilities redundant, thus accelerating their obsolescence. However, the HMCS Victoria Repair Work Period (VIC RWP) in the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) dry dock in Esquimalt, BC presented a unique opportunity to further a philosophy predicated on an integrated and synergetic approach. A vast work scope, complex submarine design, supply chain issues exacerbated by specialized labour shortages, spurred a change to a long standing approach to submarine maintenance, namely with a Request for Proposal for integrated support resulting in a long-term partnership aimed at achieving the operational requirements of the RCN.