PORTLAND (AP) – Congressional testimony by Defense Department officials has raised questions about the job outlook at Bath Iron Works during the transition to the Navy’s next generation of destroyer.

A hearing Wednesday before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee revealed that the Bush administration has not included funding for destroyer construction in its 2006 budget.

Officials also said that BIW’s chief rival, Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding, will be the lead contractor for the new DD(X) program, successor to the DDG series which is now winding down.

The revelations surprised BIW’s parent, General Dynamics Corp. The potential problems are years away and could be resolved with additional federal defense funding.

“We don’t have all the answers yet,” said Kendell Pease, a company spokesman. “There’s still great concern.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was worried about a possible gap in the workload at Bath between the time the DDG program ends and the new one starts up.

Collins, a member of the Armed Services Committee, won a commitment from defense officials that some of the work on the first new DD(X) destroyer would be done at BIW. She also promised to work for destroyer funding in 2006.

The shipyard, one of Maine’s largest employers, has about 6,700 workers.

BIW is helping design the DD(X) with Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls, which won that competition. Both yards build DDG destroyers and will build the DD(X).

But rather than conduct another round of competition to choose the lead builder, as has been planned for two years, Defense Department officials decided to stick with Ingalls to keep development of the ship at both yards on schedule.

“We made our decision to preserve this work and to seek to preserve the DD(X) schedule,” said John Young Jr., assistant Navy secretary for acquisition. “That competitive process has the potential to deteriorate the great teamwork that we have.”

BIW had planned to compete to become lead builder, which carries advantages in funding and maintenance of the ships. The bigger problem than who will lead the construction is whether there will be any money for building.

BIW is scheduled to get two of three DDG-51 destroyers totaling $3.4 billion for 2005. But they are at the end of the line for the DDG-51 under Bush’s budget.

The first DD(X) scheduled in 2005 is currently being funded through research and development, with $221 million in Bush’s latest budget. But no DD(X) work is scheduled in 2006 before construction begins in earnest in 2007.

Because development often falls behind schedule, the concern is that work on the DDG-51 will end before the DD(X) starts up, which would leave BIW short of work.

“If DD(X) slips in its schedule, there’s a gap in the workload, which is very troubling,” Collins said.

AP-ES-03-04-04 0820EST