december 2016 acquisition of camber and higher volumes in fleet support and oil and gas services , partially offset by lower nuclear and environmental volumes due to the resolution in 2016 of outstanding contract changes on a nuclear and environmental commercial contract . segment operating income 2018 - operating income in the technical solutions segment for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , was $ 32 million , compared to operating income of $ 21 million in 2017 . the increase was primarily due to an allowance for accounts receivable in 2017 on a nuclear and environmental commercial contract and higher income from operating investments at our nuclear and environmental joint ventures , partially offset by one time employee bonus payments in 2018 related to the tax act and lower performance in fleet support services . 2017 - operating income in the technical solutions segment for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , was $ 21 million , compared to operating income of $ 8 million in 2016 . the increase was primarily due to improved performance in oil and gas services and higher volume in mdis services following the december 2016 acquisition of camber , partially offset by the establishment of an allowance for accounts receivable on a nuclear and environmental commercial contract in 2017 and the resolution in 2016 of outstanding contract changes on a nuclear and environmental commercial contract . backlog total backlog as of december 31 , 2018 , was approximately $ 23 billion . total backlog includes both funded backlog ( firm orders for which funding is contractually obligated by the customer ) and unfunded backlog ( firm orders for which funding is not currently contractually obligated by the customer ) . backlog excludes unexercised contract options and unfunded idiq orders . for contracts having no stated contract values , backlog includes only the amounts committed by the customer . the following table presents funded and unfunded backlog by segment as of december 31 , 2018 and 2017: .
what was the percentage increase in the operating income from 2016 to 2017
we expect approximately 30% ( 30 % ) of the $ 23 billion total backlog as of december 31 , 2018 , to be converted into sales in 2019 . u.s . government orders comprised substantially all of the backlog as of december 31 , 2018 and 2017 . awards 2018 - the value of new contract awards during the year ended december 31 , 2018 , was approximately $ 9.8 billion . significant new awards during the period included contracts for the construction of three arleigh burke class ( ddg 51 ) destroyers , for the detail design and construction of richard m . mccool jr . ( lpd 29 ) , for procurement of long-lead-time material for enterprise ( cvn 80 ) , and for the construction of nsc 10 ( unnamed ) and nsc 11 ( unnamed ) . in addition , we received awards in 2019 valued at $ 15.2 billion for detail design and construction of the gerald r . ford class ( cvn 78 ) aircraft carriers enterprise ( cvn 80 ) and cvn 81 ( unnamed ) . 2017 - the value of new contract awards during the year ended december 31 , 2017 , was approximately $ 8.1 billion . significant new awards during this period included the detailed design and construction contract for bougainville ( lha 8 ) and the execution contract for the rcoh of uss george washington ( cvn 73 ) . .