Art Craft Fabricators Inc.

Art Craft Fabricators Inc., doing business as Collins Machine Works, a Portsmouth, Virginia-based small business, manufactures precision naval propulsion shafts, submarine components, fasteners, and ship repair parts for the Department of the Navy as a prime contractor on small-business set-asides and full-and-open awards, and as a subcontractor to major defense primes on ship maintenance and carrier overhaul work. The company is a for-profit Subchapter S corporation that competes predominantly under Total Small Business set-aside designations on direct Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Supply Systems Command procurements, with a secondary posture as a subcontractor under Huntington Ingalls, BAE Systems Maritime Solutions Norfolk, BAE Systems Maritime Solutions Jacksonville, Metro Machine Corp., Marine Hydraulics International, and other primes executing Navy ship availabilities and overhauls.

Art Craft Fabricators commands singular dominance in a specialized Navy supply niche. The top-two funding agencies account for 98% of recent award count: Naval Supply Systems Command (19 awards, $482.3 million combined potential value) and Naval Sea Systems Command (467 awards, $8.7 million combined potential value). The split reflects two distinct revenue engines — NAVSUP provides the high-dollar, low-frequency IDIQ awards for complex propulsion-shaft repair and manufacture (three Ohio-class submarine shaft repairs totaling $14.4 million awarded September 2024, a $4.5 million Ohio-class shaft repair definitive contract September 2025, a $2.25 million DDG-51 propulsion shaft delivery order October 2025, and a $1.39 million submarine propulsion shaft repair definitive contract September 2024), while NAVSEA places numerous small purchase orders (sub-$500 thousand) for coupling fasteners, bearing parts, and rudder components supporting active ship maintenance. The combined potential value across all 526 awards stands at $495 million, with $95.9 million obligated to date (19% realization), reflecting the prevalence of long-duration IDIQs and delivery orders with phased funding.

Two IDIQs anchor the prime footprint. Art Craft Fabricators holds a five-year Waterborne Surface Shafts multiple-award IDIQ valued at $274 million (awarded July 28, 2023, completion March 3, 2028) and a Repair Surface Shafts multiple-award IDIQ valued at approximately $161.8 million (ultimate completion May 25, 2028), both issued by NAVSUP under no set-aside designation. These vehicles procure propeller shafts, intermediate shafts, and stern tube shafts for DDG-51 destroyers, LHD-1 and LHA-6/LHD-8 amphibious assault ships, LSD-41 dock landing ships, LPD-17 amphibious transport dock ships, and DDG 1000 guided-missile destroyers. Task orders under these IDIQs carry firm fixed-price terms and ultimate completion dates extending to 2027 and 2028. The company also performs under a NAVSEA total small-business set-aside posture, with representative purchase orders including $401 thousand for USS Oak Hill propulsion shafting nuts and bolts (January 2025), $220 thousand for USS Porter cast rings (September 2024), and $103 thousand for USS Iwo Jima rudder bearings and fasteners (February 2025).

Activity surged between 2022 and 2024. Award volume grew from 5 in 2022 to 54 in 2023 and peaked at 348 in 2024, then fell to 52 in 2025 and 1 in 2026 year-to-date. The sharp 2024 spike reflects bulk sub-award issuance under Huntington Ingalls CVN (aircraft carrier) construction and overhaul efforts — the April 2024 award tranche alone carried 67 modifications and girder-component sub-awards under CVN 80/81 detailed design and construction and CVN 74 and CVN 75 refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) programs. Seven awards (combined potential value $21 million) face ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure on active NAVSUP and NAVSEA vehicles.

The subcontractor footprint is substantial and concentrated. Art Craft Fabricators delivered 431 sub-awards (82% of total awards) under Huntington Ingalls (propeller-shaft storage, forging, machining, and disassembly work for CVN 74 and CVN 80/81 overhauls and construction), BAE Systems Maritime Solutions Norfolk (bearing and fastener sub-work on USS Carter Hall, USS Laboon, USS Kearsarge docking selected restricted availabilities and selected restricted availabilities), BAE Systems Maritime Solutions Jacksonville (DDG 61 and DDG 68 availability support), Marine Hydraulics International (coupling installation and titanium butterfly-valve restoration on USS Mesa Verde), Metro Machine Corp. (USS Oak Hill and USS Porter availability support), and others. The Huntington Ingalls sub-relationship alone spans hundreds of line items on carrier construction and overhaul, including propeller-shaft handling, component manufacturing, shim fabrication, and rudder and bearing work. These subs route Art Craft Fabricators' specialized shaft and fastener capabilities into the Navy's carrier and surface-combatant sustainment pipeline without direct competition against large primes.

NAICS concentration reinforces capability focus. Ship Building and Repairing (NAICS 336611) accounts for 458 of 526 awards, followed distantly by Machine Shops (25 awards), Bolt/Nut/Screw/Rivet/Washer Manufacturing (10 awards), Boat Building (6 awards), and others. Top PSC codes are Ship and Boat Propulsion Components, Maintenance/Repair/Rebuild of Ship and Marine Equipment, Machine Shop Kits, Nuts and Washers, and Non-Nuclear Ship Repair (East). This NAICS and PSC profile confirms Art Craft Fabricators as a precision-machine-shop and naval-component-fabrication business, not a general contractor or integrator. Performance location is exclusively Portsmouth, Virginia, the company's manufacturing footprint, supporting regional Navy maintenance and repair hubs at Norfolk and nearby shipyard complexes.

Provide in shop and on-site machining services for heavy industry, utilities, steel mills, military and commercial maritime interests.