December 7, 2024 | Local, Land
BAE wins $2.5B deal to supply more CV90 vehicles to Denmark, Sweden
Denmark and Sweden are collectively spending $2.5 billion to bolster their CV90 combat vehicle stock while still supplying more vehicles to Ukraine.
December 31, 2018 | Local, Aerospace
Criteria for “Boeing clause” in fighter jet competition to be outlined in the new year
DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN
In October, the Canadian government sent out its draft request for proposals to aerospace firms expected to bid on replacing the CF-18 fighter jets.
The aircraft that are being considered in this competition are Lockheed Martin's F-35, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab's Gripen and the Boeing Super Hornet.
The aerospace companies will provide feedback on the draft request for proposals and after that is received the final RFP will be issued and bids required by May 2019.
Industry is expected to provide feedback on a number of issues, including the so-called “Boeing clause.”
The Canadian government has introduced the change to the standard procurement process with a new provision that defence analysts say was aimed directly at Boeing. The move came after the U.S. firm complained to the Trump administration that its Quebec-based competitor Bombardier was receiving unfair Canadian government subsidies on the production of its C-Series civilian passenger aircraft. The U.S. ruled in favour of Boeing, resulting in Bombardier facing duties of almost 300 per cent on sales of its C-Series planes in America.
The Liberal government retaliated against Boeing's complaint by cancelling plans to buy 18 of the company's Super Hornet fighter jets at a cost of around $6 billion. In addition, as part of the competition for the new fighter jets, Canada announced it would assess a company's “economic behavior” in the years leading up to the competition. Navdeep Bains, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, said if a firm has caused economic harm to Canada that would be at a distinct disadvantage in the fighter jet competition.
But the Canadian government hasn't yet outlined its criteria for the controversial clause. Jeff Waring, director general for industrial benefits policy at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada recently told Esprit de Corps military magazine that the federal government is “still finalizing the assessment tool” for that clause and will continue to discuss the issue with industry.
The details for the clause will be outlined before the final request for proposals is issued, he added.
On the same subject
-
-
April 22, 2024 | Local, Land, Security
Minister Blair to visit the Northwest Territories to discuss Budget 2024 and Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence
The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, will visit the Northwest Territories from April 23-25, 2024 to discuss Budget 2024 and Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence
-
June 16, 2020 | Local, Naval
Ottawa awards $2.4B contract to finish building navy's supply ships
The decision signals the project won't be delayed by pandemic-driven deficit spending Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Jun 15, 2020 2:45 PM The Liberal government has awarded a $2.4 billion contract to finish the overall construction of the navy's long-awaited supply ships. Today's announcement moves forward a Joint Support Ship program over a decade-and-a-half in the making. It also appears to signal the federal government remains committed to its multi-billion shipbuilding program despite record levels of pandemic-driven federal deficit spending. The contract, with Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyards, is for the construction of two replenishment vessels, Public Services and Procurement Canada said in a statement. Now that the construction deal has been signed, the overall price tag of the program — including design — is expected to be $4.1 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $3.4 billion. Seven years ago, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) predicted the cost would end up where it has — an estimate that was roundly criticized and dismissed by the Conservatives, who were in power at the time. "The government announcement today did not have a whole ton of detail, so it's hard to do an exact comparison, but I certainly think that PBO estimate from a long time ago has held up pretty well over time," said Dave Perry, an expert in defence procurement and vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. The first supply ship is to be delivered in 2023, and the second vessel is supposed to arrive two years later. The yard started construction on certain portions of the first ship in 2018, while final design work was still underway — something that alarmed and even baffled some defence and shipbuilding experts. 'Business as usual' With the federal deficit expected to swell to over $252.1 billion because of COVID-19 relief measures, many in the defence community had been speculating that existing spending plans for the supply ships would be curtailed or scaled back. In a statement, federal Public Services Minister Anita Anand suggested the Liberal government is committed to staying the course. "This contract award is yet another example of our ongoing commitment to the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which is supporting a strong and sustainable marine sector in Canada," she said. Perry said he takes it as a sign the Liberals intend to proceed with their defence construction plans in the face of fiscal and economic uncertainty. "It is an indicator that, despite being business under some very unusual circumstances, it is still government business-as-usual under COVID," he said. In the same government statement, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan pointed out that an enormous amount of preparation work has been done already and he's pleased the project is moving forward. "An impressive amount of work has already gone into the construction of these new ships, and I look forward to their arrival in the coming years." said Sajjan. Construction during COVID-19 A senior executive at Seaspan said work to adapt the design from the original German plan (the Canadian ship is based on the German Navy's Berlin-Class replenishment vessel) was completed last year and work on the superstructure of the first Joint Support Ship — started in 2018 — has been proceeding apace, even through the pandemic. "It is well advanced," said Amy MacLeod, the company's vice-president of corporate affairs. "We are ready to continue. We're very, very happy with the quality of the ship, the progress of the ship, the momentum that we have and the expertise we have gained." The shipyard did not pause construction due to the pandemic — but it did have to figure out ways to carry on under strict physical distancing rules. "We, like everybody else, had to understand how to run a business in a pandemic," said MacLeod. "We made a lot of changes on how we build our ships." Turnstiles to enter and exit the yard were eliminated and the company went high-tech with a "heat map" that shows where everyone is working and how much space there is between individual workers. "And where we couldn't ensure appropriate social distancing because of COVID, we stopped that work." Perry said the gap between the construction of the two supply ships worries him to a degree. Seaspan intends to construct an ocean science vessel for the coast guard under a plan agreed to with the Liberal government in 2019. Any delay or hiccup in the construction of that ship could mean the delivery of the second naval vessel is pushed back even further, Perry said. Extending the navy's range News of the contract will come as a relief to the navy. Having replenishment ships to refuel and rearm frigates would allow the navy to deploy entire task groups to far-flung parts of the world. "With these warships, the Royal Canadian Navy will be able to operate with even greater flexibility and endurance," said Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, commander of the navy. "These ships will not only form part of the core of our naval task groups, they also represent a vital and strategic national asset that will enable the Navy to maintain its global reach and staying power." A tortured history It was 1994 when the replacement program was first discussed. The deficit-slashing years of that decade meant the plan was shelved. Resurrected in 2004, the Liberal government of former prime minister Paul Martin hoped to have the ships in the water by 2008 to replace the three-decade-old supply ships the navy had been operating. Faced with cost estimates well over what they had expected, the Conservative government of former prime minister Stephen Harper shelved the Liberal plan on the eve of the 2008 federal election. More than five years later, the navy was forced to retire both aging supply ships after one of them was crippled by a devastating fire. The absence of replenishment capability led the Harper government to lease a converted civilian supply ship from a private company, Federal Fleet Services, which operates out of the Davie Shipyard in Levis, Que. That plan led to a political and legal scandal when the former commander of the navy, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, was accused of leaking cabinet secrets related to the plan. The Crown withdrew the charge a year ago after a protracted pre-trial court battle. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supply-ship-navy-seaspan-1.5612770