▲ A rendering of Hanwha Ocean's KDDX
Hanwha Ocean announced in a regulatory filing today (July 2) that it has been selected as the preferred bidder for the detailed design and construction of the lead ship for the Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX) project, commissioned by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
Hanwha Ocean explained that the final contract amount and duration will be determined following negotiations between the involved parties.
The company added that it plans to sign a final contract after negotiating specific transaction terms and will issue a follow-up disclosure once the contract conditions are finalized.
On June 11, DAPA notified the participating companies, Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, that Hanwha Ocean had scored higher in the evaluation of proposals for the KDDX project.
It is reported that Hanwha Ocean led by a narrow margin of approximately 0.59 points.
The outcome was decided by a 1.2-point security penalty imposed on HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries became subject to the security penalty after its employees were convicted of illegally photographing and leaking military secrets, including the conceptual design related to the KDDX project.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries filed an objection against the evaluation results, but DAPA rejected the claim.
A DAPA official stated, "After disclosing the evaluation results, we reviewed the objection and ultimately confirmed that there were no issues with the evaluation. We have notified each company of the priority ranking for negotiations and plan to proceed with the preferred bidder."
DAPA aims to begin full-scale negotiations with Hanwha Ocean starting in mid-July and sign the final contract by the end of next month.
The KDDX project is a 7.8 trillion won initiative to build six 7,000-ton "mini-Aegis" destroyers using domestic technology.
(Photo courtesy of Hanwha Ocean, Yonhap News)
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