[Fido969]

"If Bath Iron Works is giving Americans the best bang for our terrorism fighting bucks, then Maine's economy has nothing to fear."

Well, when you're at sea, and find yourself taken under fire, would you rather be in the best, or the one made by the lowest bidder?

[Southack]

"would you rather be in the best, or the one made by the lowest bidder?"

In my limited personal experience, the lowest bidder typically has the best quality...because he's the guy who figured out how to do it right the first time, rather than having lots of re-work.

When you get something right the first time, you tend to be cheaper than someone who takes a couple of builds, inspections, and work-overs.

So I suspect that BIW will have no problem beating their competition.