REPORT ON EFFICIENCY OF NAVAL SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY.

SEC. 254. REPORT ON EFFICIENCY OF NAVAL SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY.(a) Assessment of Efficiency of Naval Shipbuilding Industry.—(1) Assessment required.—The Secretary of the Navy shall conduct an assessment of the United States naval shipbuilding industry to determine how worldwide shipbuilding industry best practices for innovation, design, and production technologies, processes, and infrastructure could be adopted to improve efficiency in the following areas:(A) Program design, engineering, and production engineering.(B) Organization and operating systems.(C) Steelwork production.(D) Ship construction and outfitting.(2) Contents of assessment.—The assessment under paragraph (1) shall include the following:(A) An identification of any best practice of the worldwide shipbuilding industry that the United States naval shipbuilding industry has not adopted, the adoption of which would lower construction costs.(B) The estimated cost of adopting any best practice identified under subparagraph (A) and any estimated return on an investment made by a shipyard to adopt such a best practice.(C) Any recommendation of the Secretary to increase the efficiency of the United States naval shipbuilding industry.(3) Relation to independent navy ship construction assessment.—The assessment under paragraph (1) shall occur subsequent to, and take into consideration the results of, the study of the cost effectiveness of the ship construction program of the Navy required by section 1014 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (Public Law 108–375; 118 Stat. 2041).(b) Report.—Not later than April 1, 2006, the Secretary of the Navy shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report containing the Secretary’s findings and conclusions based on the assessment under subsection (a).