Contract with Navy to help grow defense business in Southwestern PA, help meet Navy strategic needs
Navy investments in Gecko Robotics’ advanced technologies to boost national and economic security against rising threats from China
Members: “For the people of Southwestern Pennsylvania, this contract is critical. It will bring more than 150 jobs to the region directly. […] GSA must do better. The Nation’s security demands it”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) led a bipartisan group of his colleagues in Congress in urging the General Services Administration (GSA) to expedite a U.S. Navy contract with Gecko Robotics to bolster national security amidst rising Chinese aggression and create jobs in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The Navy’s pending $75 million contract with Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics has already been delayed many months, putting critical work on hold. When implemented, the contract will support ship maintenance and help ensure the Navy’s readiness against increasing maritime threats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This project will directly create 150 new jobs in Southwestern Pennsylvania and help grow defense business in the region to create future job opportunities.
“For the people of Southwestern Pennsylvania in particular, this contract is critical. It will bring more than 150 jobs to the region directly. It will help grow Gecko Robotics’ defense business across other Navy platforms, other U.S. military services, and allied militaries, leading to further job growth. And, through workforce investments by Gecko Robotics, it will help traditional manufacturing workers in the area develop the advanced manufacturing skills and expertise necessary to compete in the global marketplace. GSA must do better. The Nation’s security demands it,” wrote the Members.
The Navy’s pending $75 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to Gecko Robotics for automated vessel inspection and maintenance has been stalled many months, despite the contract’s strategic importance and prioritization by the Navy. When implemented, the contract will enable the reduction of ship maintenance backlogs by using Gecko Robotics’ robots and software. This critical investment will not only create 150 new defense manufacturing jobs, but it will strengthen the defense industrial base in Southwestern Pennsylvania, help transition traditional manufacturing workers to meet twenty-first century advanced manufacturing demands and create a pathway for future job creation. In a letter to GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, the Members stressed the importance of maintaining a strong Navy in the face of rising Chinese aggression and urged the Administration to create an expedited timeline to implement this project.
Full text of the letter is below and the signed PDF can be found HERE.
Dear Administrator Carnahan:
We write to bring to your attention a contracting delay with national security ramifications for the Nation’s naval and technological competitions against the People’s Republic of China (PRC). We respectfully request that you expedite issuance of the Navy’s pending $75 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to Gecko Robotics for automated vessel inspection and maintenance–from its delayed Q2 2025 start date up to Q1 2025. This contract stands not only to bolster our national and economic security in the face of increasing Chinese aggression, but to create jobs and grow Navy business in Southwestern Pennsylvania, a region long known for its industrious workforce and ingenuity.
As stated in President Biden’s National Security Strategy, “the PRC is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the... power to do it.” The United States military must prioritize the Chinese threat across all domains of the competition, including naval capacity and the adoption of advanced technologies.
The growing buildup of the PRC’s navy continues to strengthen its chances of winning a potential future war against the United States, as larger fleets have won 89 percent of wars with significant naval combat. Today, this shifting balance allows China to more confidently project power despite U.S. counterefforts. A competition against a state, China, controlling 230 times our shipbuilding capacity will require continued large-scale investments and a refocused strategy to address today’s threats.
As part of the naval competition, the U.S. Navy must resolve its significant maintenance backlog and current inability, in the event of a conflict, to quickly repair damaged ships. Even if the United States had a navy with more vessels that are more powerful and hold more powerful weapons, we still would lose a war if those vessels were “in disrepair, tied to the pier, or in dry-dock.” Without this maintenance and repair capability, the U.S. Navy’s combat power has become only a fraction of its reported size. A 2023 GAO study confirmed this effect: Over the last decade across 10 different ship classes, hours of availability for operations and training have decreased as maintenance cannibalizations, delays, and costs have increased.
Specifically, the United States must improve its naval maintenance planning processes, starting with a better understanding of its vessels’ condition. Experts have recommended that the U.S. Navy “invest in integrated [information technology (IT)] systems to document ships’ material condition properly,” as traditional methods of assessment take longer, cost more, and provide a much poorer understanding of a vessels’ maintenance needs.
The Navy has identified its maintenance backlog as a priority and begun to execute on developing a technological solution to address that priority. To meet its spring 2024 availability timelines, the Navy worked hard to award a $75 million IDIQ contract to Gecko Robotics. Based in Pittsburgh, Gecko Robotics uses robotic automation and digital baselines to help the military optimize maintenance processes and improve mission readiness. This contract would allow the Navy to move more quickly in addressing its maintenance backlog while saving taxpayer funds compared to existing vehicles.
Despite the contract’s strategic importance and prioritization by the Navy, it has stalled with GSA. Based on the Navy’s efforts, in December of 2023, a member of GSA informed Gecko Robotics that, “I’m confident we’ll have a contract in place by the end of February [2024].” In March of 2024 though, GSA backtracked, telling the Navy it could not support the contract until July. In April, GSA signed the requisite interagency agreement with the Navy, but by June, delays had worsened, leading a different member of GSA to inform Gecko Robotics that, “I don’t have a time frame when we would start the project.” In August, our staff learned from GSA that it does not plan to award the contract until Q2 of 2025, one year after it had originally planned.
We understand that GSA has faced staffing turnover and a changing acquisition strategy, but in the meantime, the Navy’s readiness has suffered and will continue to suffer. China is emboldened. While commercial demand for Gecko Robotics’ capabilities is high, another young company in similar circumstances might have already gone out of business due to these delays. Difficulties generating revenue from contract delays like this will deter less mission-driven, innovative companies from even entering the defense market.
For the people of Southwestern Pennsylvania in particular, this contract is critical. It will bring more than 150 jobs to the region directly. It will help grow Gecko Robotics’ defense business across other Navy platforms, other U.S. military services, and allied militaries, leading to further job growth. And, through workforce investments by Gecko Robotics, it will help traditional manufacturing workers in the area develop the advanced manufacturing skills and expertise necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
GSA must do better. The Nation’s security demands it. We respectfully request that you expedite issuance of the Navy’s IDIQ contract to Q1 of 2025. Thank you for your attention to our request. We appreciate your swift efforts to remedy this situation.
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