Who wins US ship repair contracts performed in Japan, and how the work is bought

What changed, and what the records add

Japan and the United States are working to move more US Navy ship maintenance to Japanese companies. On 2026-04-14 the two governments held the fourth plenary of their defense industrial cooperation forum, DICAS (Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment), renamed it DICAS 2.0, and agreed to keep working on contracting arrangements and supply chains for that purpose. Japan's Ministry of Defense also reports that in December 2025 a Japanese company repaired the destroyer USS Fitzgerald at Maizuru, the first time a Japanese company repaired a Navy ship homeported in the US mainland.

Those are a statement of intent and one repair. Hashike, a bilingual research service built on public procurement records, holds the contract records for the ship repair work the US military already buys in Japan, and this page uses them to show how much of that work there is, how it is bought, who holds it and which offices place it, and then where a company that does not repair ships today appears in the current notices.

Why this work is done in Japan

US law, 10 U.S.C. 8680, bars overhaul, repair or maintenance of a Navy ship homeported in the United States, Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands at a shipyard outside those places. Its main exceptions cover voyage repairs, damage from hostile action, and maintenance on a deployed ship planned to last no more than 21 days, and that exception work is capped each fiscal year at two percent of the home port's average annual workload. The rule follows the home port, so it does not reach the ships homeported in Japan.

Those ships are maintained through the US Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC), the Navy organization that maintains and repairs surface ships mainly at Yokosuka and Sasebo. The Navy's Fleet Logistics Center Yokosuka (NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka) writes most of the contracts for that work.

How much work there is and how it is bought

Hashike counted 2,728 prime awards in USAspending (the US government's public database of federal contract records) that were performed in Japan, filed under NAICS 336611 (ship building and repairing), and started between 2022-10-01 and 2026-08-17, the latest start date in the records. Together they total $722.4M. The yearly table groups them by US federal fiscal year, which runs October to September. FY2026 is partial, and with records only through 2026-08-17 it already shows $168.0M, against $167.2M for all of FY2025. The number of awards fell each year, from 946 in FY2023 to 562 in FY2025, while the yearly amounts stayed between $167.2M and $207.6M.

Almost all of the work is ordered under contracts that already exist. Of the 2,728 awards, 2,493 worth $656.3M were orders under an existing contract or agreement, which only the holders of that contract can receive. Competed buys outside existing agreements and set-asides account for 63 awards worth $18.7M; the records show that these were competed, while who could offer depended on each solicitation's terms. Another 146 awards worth $44.1M were not competed, and 26 worth $3.2M were set aside for US small businesses.

Who holds the work

Among the same 2,728 awards, companies registered in Japan won 2,516, and 101 companies won at least one award. SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD, as the records name it, won 597 awards worth $354.0M, or 49% of the total amount, and the five largest winners together hold 79.9%.

The second-largest amount, $112.0M across 18 awards, went to YOKOHAMA ENGINEERING WORKS, LTD. through an Army contracting office, so not all of this work is for Navy ships. MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD won 7 awards worth $53.6M. Two smaller Japanese firms won many awards each: SHINKO CO.,LTD. won 622 worth $38.0M, and YAMAGUCHI MACHINERY CO.,LTD. won 343 worth $19.5M. The records show the number of offers for 2,532 of the awards, and 1,551 of those, or 61.3%, drew one offer.

Which offices place the orders

Two Navy offices in Japan place most of the awards. NAVSUP FLT LOG CTR YOKOSUKA, as the records name it, placed 1,327 awards worth $460.4M, and its Sasebo office, NAVSUP FLC YOKOSUKA SASEBO OFFICE, placed 1,178 worth $63.9M. The Army office W6QK ACC- DTA placed the 18 awards worth $112.0M. NAVSUP FLT LOG CTR PUGET SOUND, a Navy office outside Japan, placed 179 awards worth $50.3M for work performed in Japan.

What is on the record now

Three current notices on SAM.gov (the US government's official site for contract opportunities) show the work and its supply chain.

• ·On 2026-10-18 NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka posted market-research request N62649-27-RFI-WELD for SRF-JRMC. The notice names a main burden of repair work overseas: buying US military-specification metals and welding consumables to qualify welding procedures and welders. It asks companies for base and filler materials certified to Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) or by ClassNK (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, Japan's ship classification society) that the Navy could evaluate as substitutes under its welding standard, NAVSEA S9074-AQ-GIB-010/248. It also asks for descriptions of companies' existing welder qualification, consumable control and inspection programs. Responses are due 2026-11-20, in English or Japanese, and the notice states that no solicitation will be issued from it. A steel or welding supplier that does not repair ships appears in this notice as a possible source.
• ·On 2026-04-01 NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka posted pre-solicitation notice N6264927RA001PS for a firm-fixed-price contract to repair and maintain the destroyer USS SHOUP (DDG 86) on board at Yokosuka Naval Base, with a planned period of performance from 2026-12-07 to 2027-07-20.
• ·On 2026-11-02 the Singapore site of NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka posted solicitation N6264927RL005 for the overhaul of the fleet oiler USNS EARL WARREN (T-AO 207), to be done between May and July 2027 anywhere in the US 7th Fleet's area except India. Offers are due 2026-12-02, one contract is to be awarded, and the winner must be registered on SAM.gov.

How a company takes part

DFARS subpart 217.71 governs master agreements for the repair and alteration of vessels, and the Navy's Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) is one of them. A master agreement is not a contract: it sets standard terms that each later job order takes on. For work in the United States and its outlying areas, the subpart has offers sought from firms that hold an agreement, or that qualify and agree to sign one before award, and emergency job orders go only to firms that already hold one. Each solicitation states its own eligibility terms. In July 2024, South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean each signed a Master Ship Repair Agreement with the US Navy. USAspending does not label which orders were placed under a master agreement.

To bid as a prime contractor, a company registers on SAM.gov, which is free. A company outside the United States first gets an NCAGE code, an international supplier identifier that the NATO Support and Procurement Agency issues to Japanese companies at no charge. Solicitations for work in Japan often include DFARS 252.225-7042, under which a bidder states that it is authorized to do business in the country where the work is performed.

Companies also work under a yard that holds an agreement, as subcontractors or suppliers. That work does not appear in these figures, because USAspending lists prime awards only. Market-research requests such as the welding notice are where the Navy asks the wider supply chain directly.

About these records

The counts are prime awards filed under NAICS 336611; they include Army and Air Force awards and miss ship repair filed under other codes. Subcontract work does not appear, and USAspending publishes Department of Defense contract actions about 90 days late, so the most recent months are incomplete. The notice terms come from SAM.gov as read on 2026-11-04 and differ from one solicitation to the next. The figures are compiled from public government records and are complete only to the extent those records are; errors, gaps and later corrections in the records carry into them.

Terms used in this article

USAspending / FPDS (Federal Procurement Data System)

The public record of federal contract data. It shows past awardees, amounts, place of performance, and more. Hashike's comparable-award figures come from it.

Prime / Subcontractor

The prime holds the contract directly with the government. A subcontractor performs part of the work under the prime. Subcontracting is one route into federal work.

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)

A six-digit code classifying an industry. Each solicitation is assigned one primary NAICS code, and US small-business size standards are set per code.

SAM (System for Award Management)

The US government's central registration system for organizations that want to do business with federal agencies. An active SAM.gov registration is generally required to bid or receive an award. Registration is free.

RFI / RFP / RFQ (Request for Information / Proposals / Quotation)

RFI seeks information (market research); RFP seeks proposals (negotiated procurement); RFQ seeks quotes (common in simplified acquisitions).

DFARS (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement)

The Department of Defense's supplement to the FAR. It applies to defense acquisitions.

MSRA / ABR (Master Ship Repair Agreement / Agreement for Boat Repair)

A framework agreement between the US Navy and firms that repair its ships or boats. Japan ship-sustainment solicitations may require holding a valid MSRA/ABR, or agreeing to execute one before award.

NCAGE Code (NATO Commercial and Government Entity Code)

The identifier for entities located outside the United States. A non-US company must obtain one before completing SAM registration. For Japan and other non-NATO countries it is issued by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), free of charge.