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March 2, 2020 | Local, Naval

Government checks another box on the long, long road to building a Polar icebreaker

David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen

The federal government is requesting information from industry on which shipyard has the capability to build the Canadian Coast Guard's new Polar Class icebreaker.

It's a strange request in some respects. Last year the Liberal government took away the Polar Class icebreaker project from Seaspan shipyards on the west coast and instead provided that company with a deal that will see it build 16 new Multi-Purpose Vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Irving on the east coast is running at full speed handling the combat ship portions of the National Shipbuilding Strategy. It has already fallen behind on the delivery of the first of the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships and it still has much work to do on the Canadian Surface Combatant program.

It was expected that Davie, the largest shipyard in Canada, would receive the contract to build the Polar Class icebreaker. Yet the news release issued Friday from Public Services and Procurement Canada noted that, “the Government of Canada issued a Request for Information (RFI), open to all Canadian shipyards, seeking information on domestic shipyard capability and capacity to construct and deliver a Polar-class icebreaker. This follows standard procurement practices, and the information gathered will help the government determine how best to proceed so that the polar icebreaker is delivered in the most timely and efficient manner.”

Companies, however, only have two weeks to respond to the request for information.

The whole exercise has the feel of a government checking the boxes off before awarding the contract to Davie. Or it could be a measure to head off any legal challenge from other shipyards who would complain that a “fair, open and transparent” competition was not run.

Cecely Roy, press secretary to Procurement Minister Anita Anand, said in an email to this newspaper that as “a significant amount of time has passed since the last commissioned studies on the capacity of domestic shipyards, this RFI was initiated to provide updated information to inform the government's decisions on the procurement process moving forward.”

The polar icebreaker, the future Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) John G. Diefenbaker, will replace Canada's current largest icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. The current fleet of heavy icebreakers, including the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, remain in good condition and will be in operation until the polar icebreaker is delivered, according to the federal government.

The Polar Class project was announced by the Conservative government in 2008 and has faced delays ever since. The ship had been expected to be in service in 2017. That date changed to 2021. Now there is no known date for the vessel to be operating. “The delivery date for the polar icebreaker will be identified as the project gets underway,” the federal government added in its news release.

“At this stage, we are exploring options to ensure the Polar Icebreaker is built in the most efficient manner to meet the needs of the Coast Guard, but a decision was not been made on the contract award, nor will this RFI result in that decision,” Roy said in an email to this newspaper.

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/canada/government-checks-another-box-on-the-long-long-road-to-building-a-polar-icebreaker-417217/

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  • HOW COVID-19 IS AFFECTING  CANADA'S DEFENCE AND  AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

    April 1, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    HOW COVID-19 IS AFFECTING CANADA'S DEFENCE AND AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

    COVID-19 is the most disruptive event to hit the world's economy and nations since World War II, and the end is nowhere in sight. So how will the mix of business shutdowns, self-isolation, and plummeting government tax revenues (further depleted by COVID-19 relief spending) affect the Canadian defence industry? At this early stage, it is impossible to provide a definitive answer. That said, the companies and experts contacted by CDR provided some insights into the problem; based on their best assessments of what is going on. EXPECT DELAYS IN PROCUREMENT DECISIONS COVID-19 is bad news for Canada's defence procurement process. It has already resulted in delays to current projects, such as Irving Shipyards closing down work on the Canadian Surface Combatant in mid-March. It could also delay ongoing procurements such as the Future Fighter Capability Project, which is due to receive proposals from Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and Saab by June 30, 2020. “In a situation like this, the key decisions are put off in government,” said Alan Williams, (During his 33 years in the federal civil service, Williams was Assistant Deputy Minister, Supply Operations Service in Public Works and Government Services Canada for five years; followed by fives years as DND's Assistant Deputy Minister of Materiel.) “Now you can do a lot of the paperwork associated with the procurement; including reviews and evaluations. But until things get back to normal, the key decisions will be put off.” AIRBUS HELICOPTERS REMAINS OPEN Canadian Airbus Helicopter operators can count on getting service during the COVID-19 shutdown. The reason: “Airbus Helicopters Canada qualifies as an essential workplace in the Province of Ontario,” said Dwayne Charette, the company's President/COO. “This allows us to continue to support our customers operating their helicopters to save lives, protect people and maintain critical infrastructure both in Canada and around the world. Our customers, including law enforcement agencies, militaries, emergency air medical service operators, and utility companies, are all relying on us to ensure they can continue to perform their critical missions and we have a responsibility to support them.” (In maintaining operations, Airbus is following approved COVID-19 infection-prevention procedures.) When it comes to Airbus Defence and Space Canada's contracts with the Canadian Armed Forces for CC-295 fixed-wing search and rescue (FWSAR) aircraft, “We are closely monitoring the situation and are in close contact with our customers,” said company President Simon Jacques. “We will review the situation once operations resume.” (Airbus delivered the first of 16 CC-295s to the RCAF in January 2020.) Airbus is also looking into producing critical medical equipment, in line with the federal government's plea to industry. MV ASTERIX READY TO HELP, DAVIE STILL RUNNING The Canadian Armed Forces are primed and ready to help with COVID-19 relief across Canada. So is Federal Fleet Services, which owns and operates the MV Asterix supply ship on behalf of the Royal Canadian Navy. At the moment, it is sitting crewed and ready for action in Halifax. “When we first designed the MV Asterix, we did a lot to ensure that it was ready for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” said Alex Vicefield, chairman and CEO of Inocea Group; the parent company for Federal Fleet Services and Davie Shipbuilding. This is why the MV Asterix has an operating theatre, Intensive Care Unit, and other medical facilities onboard; ready to sail to whatever accessible port the federal government sends it to. “The Asterix is ready to serve as a scaled-down hospital ship; if it were needed for that,” said Vicefield. The ship's hospital even has its own separate HVAC system that would keep the air breathed by COVID-19 patients separate from the rest of the air circulating throughout the ship. Meanwhile, Davie Shipbuilding is continuing to convert three Swedish oil and gas icebreakers to serve with the Canadian Coast Guard. “We're not going to stop this project, obviously, because those are important national security assets for Canada,” said Vicefield. He explained the need to boost Canada's icebreaking capacity without delay in terms COVID-19's possible impact on US food exports to Canada. If this year's US crop yields are slashed due to pandemic deaths and social isolation, “the potential for that food supply to stop coming over the border would make Canada more reliant on foreign ships coming from Europe and so on,” Vicefield told CDR. “So the need for icebreakers is even more pressing.” TERRANOVA PITCHES IN Before COVID-19 hit, Terranova Defense Solutions was focussed on providing drones for air, land, and water applications; including its remotely-controlled Dolphin One water rescue drone. Now that COVID-19 is here, the company intends to answer Ottawa's call for help by adding much-needed medical supplies to its product roster. “Terranova Defense Solutions has already engaged with other companies to global source medical supplies for Canada,” said company President/Founder James Castle. “We are currently waiting for a response from the Canadian government to the next steps and we are prepared to help Canada in whatever way we can for no profit to best serve our Canadian family.” Thanks to its mainstream drone business, Terranova Defense Solutions already has procurement relationships with international partners. “These groups have been working with us as one united front -- helping Canadians through our Call to Arms against COVID-19 – to help us in sourcing new Europe CE and US FDA Certified medical supplies and ventilators for those in need,” said Castle. This said, “Finding transportation and funding to purchase and ship these items has been a challenge.” Looking ahead, “The main challenge facing us at this time is the uncertainty of what the landscape will look like following the pandemic,” Castle told CDR. “We believe that, while there will be negative impacts to the industry, there are and will be opportunities for companies that provide fresh and innovative solutions to the country going forward.” CAE TAKES TOUGH STEPS As detailed in a March 23, 2020 webcast to investors, CAE sees COVID-19 as “a crisis of unprecedented speed and magnitude,” said Marc Parent, CAE's President and Chief Executive Officer. To manage its way through the pandemic's economic impact, CAE farsightedly formed a crisis committee in January 2020. As of March 23rd, “we're taking immediate steps to preserve cash by cutting capital expenditures and reducing operating expenses, including temporary layoffs and salary cuts across the board,” Parent said. In response to a CDR question about the impact of COVID-19 on CAE's defence projects, Parent noted that the company's defence training programs are service level agreements with government clients. This means that payments associated with these defence agreements are not reliant upon actual usage by clients, which is the case with CAE's civil aviation training programs. “We're providing critical services here too, and the US government has recently articulated the absolute necessity of this activity,” said Parent. This said, some US bases have restricted access to their facilities; specifically by imposing 14-day quarantine pre-entry requirements on people from 100 miles outside of these installations. “Anything and everything that has to do with the movement and cooperation of people is more challenging in this environment,” Parent said. “So we've been impacted in terms of getting orders fulfilled, just because of that; getting access to the people, meeting face-to-face ... As well, the general preoccupation with the crisis clearly has an impact on the speed of the procurement processes.” The only good news for CAE in the COVID-19 crisis is that “we have approximately a $4 billion backlog in defence, which provides us with a good source of diversification and visibility,” said Parent. “Longer term, we don't see an obvious structural impact on defence. But I think we can anticipate some short-term friction as we move through this period.” AFTER CANCELLING CANSEC, CADSI TAKES UPBEAT APPROACH COVID-19 is proving to be difficult for the Canadian Association for Defence and Security Industries (CADSI); most notably because it has cancelled plans to stage the CANSEC 2020 global defence and security trade show in Ottawa May 27-28, 2020. The bad news was announced on March 31, 2020, during CADSI's Annual General Meeting (which, due to COVID-19, was held as a teleconference.) “As you can imagine, the decision was not made lightly,” said CADSI President and CEO Christyn Cianafarani. The reason CADSI took so long to cancel this year's CANSEC – compared to other COVID-19 related event cancellations – is because “it has a $10 million impact on the local Ottawa economy,” she explained. “We took the time necessary to explore every possible option with the City of Ottawa, our partners, contractors and suppliers to mitigate the losses to our community, in order to secure the long-term viability of CANSEC.” Despite the loss of CANSEC 2020, Cianafarani is taking an upbeat approach to the pandemic, by focussing on the good things her members are doing for Canada. “Throughout this crisis, the Canadian defence and security sectors have stepped up to support where help is most needed,” Cianafarani told CDR. “Companies from coast-to-coast have refocused their attention to produce in-demand equipment like N95 masks, gloves, testing kits, shelters and ventilators needed to protect health care workers, patients, and the public. With the rise in online activity, cyber defence and security companies have offered free cyber protection services to hospitals, medical supply chains and other essential service providers.” “These are just some examples,” she continued. “At the Association level, we are working hard to ensure companies facing hardships and challenges are connected to the government programs best placed to help them get through these exceptional economic times.” AIAC SEEKS ‘ESSENTIAL SERVICE' STATUS In an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic, access to aviation is vital. This is why the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) – in association with AIAC member companies and regional aerospace industry associations – “has been calling for action from the Prime Minister and Premiers to designate the aerospace, defence and space sectors an essential service in all of Canada's provinces and territories,” said AIAC President and CEO Jim Quick. “Canada's aerospace industry is doing vital work -- providing products, services and solutions for a variety of purposes including emergency medical services and the transportation of vital medical equipment, domestic and international transportation, firefighting, search and rescue, telecommunications, border and maritime patrol and security, law enforcement, and military operations and support -- and it needs a consistent approach across the country. Not surprisingly, the global shutdown is seriously affecting AIAC member companies. To help them weather the storm, “we've been actively reaching out to our members, letting them know we are here to assist in any way we can during this crisis,” said Quick. To achieve this the AIAC is sending out a daily ‘News You Can Use' COVID-19 update that outlines the latest aerospace industry related news and announcements. The association has also launched a specialized 'COVID-19 Updates and Resources' website page for the latest on government resources on stimulus, subsidies, webinars and more; plus holding briefings with federal cabinet members. As well, “Aerospace is responding to the government's call for retooling to convert operations to deliver on needed supplies such as ventilators, masks and other essential supplies and equipment,” Quick told CDR. CDAI POLLS SHOWS SOLID SUPPORT FOR CAF INTERVENTION 88% of Canadians believe that the Canadian Armed Forces have a role to play in supporting civilian authorities manage and mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a survey conducted by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) and Ipsos Canada. Based on a March 20-23, 2020 online survey of 2,000 Canadians aged 18+, the poll foreshadowed Ottawa's decision to publicly commit the CAF to COVID-19 relief on March 30, 2020. Among the CDAI/Ipsos Canada poll findings: 65% supported the CAF helping to deliver medical and other supplies to service providers and the Canadian public; 64% were okay with the CAF supporting Canadian law enforcement agencies; 58% supported the continued use of CFB Trenton to quarantine at-risk or infected travellers/evacuees; 54% wants the CAF to help with evacuating and medical transporting infected Canadians. "I am not surprised by these survey results,” said LGen (Ret'd) Guy Thibault, CDAI Chair and former Vice-Chief of Defence Staff. “Time and again Canadians have seen the outstanding professionalism and critical contributions of the men and women of the Canadian Forces in humanitarian missions and natural disaster relief operations abroad and at home. There is no more important mission for the Forces than protecting Canadians in times of great need, and they are a highly respected and trusted national institution.” http://www.canadiandefencereview.com/Featured_content?blog/168

  • 2021-22 Collaborative Networks / Réseaux de collaboration pour 2021-22

    December 11, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    2021-22 Collaborative Networks / Réseaux de collaboration pour 2021-22

    The MINDS Team is pleased to announce that the call for applications for the Collaborative Networks for FY 2021-22 is now open. Applications can be submitted until January 18 , 2021. If you are interested in presenting your research results to National Defence or the Canadian Armed Forces through the Expert Briefing Series, please contact MINDS@forces.gc.ca. Collaborative Networks Through the establishment of Collaborative Networks, MINDS is increasing and diversifying research on defence and security issues in Canada, with the aim to meet the Defence Team need for relevant and timely advice and broaden the spectrum of expert voices contributing to the conversation. Network Focus Collaborative Networks involve multi-disciplinary teams of experts from across Canada and abroad. They work together to research specific defence and security challenges in support of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. Through these networks, the Defence Team will benefit from in-depth and nuanced analysis either to complement ongoing work or gain new insights in areas where there is interest and demand but limited expertise available. Who can apply This opportunity is open to multidisciplinary teams with interest in the domain of security and defence studies. We are looking for individuals or organizations that are engaged, dynamic, resourceful and interested in helping DND/CAF address key defence policy challenges. The primary affiliation of the network lead must be a Canadian institution. Federal and provincial crown corporations are not eligible for funding under this program. Network Requirements Successful network applicants will receive $250,000 per year for three years. During these three years, the networks will be required to meet a number of deliverables including creative approaches to research, conferences and workshops, witten and oral briefings to a Defence Team audience, and student support. For a complete list of network criteria and deliverables, please consult the application form. Applicants must demonstrate: Relevance, through alignment with one to three defence policy challenges, and linkage to SSE How the project incorporates diverse perspectives, including through the use of Gender-based Analysis Plus Innovation, creativity, vision Plans to creatively leverage technology A detailed spending strategy is essential to a successful application, including an estimated budget for the project with anticipated expenditures. Successful applicants will be required to sign a contribution agreement with MINDS that will govern the administration of funding. See funding results for previous rounds. If you have any questions related to the Collaborative Networks, please contact the MINDS team at MINDS@forces.gc.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/programs/minds/collaborative-networks.html

  • Sole source armoured vehicle deal with General Dynamics costs double original estimates

    August 20, 2019 | Local, Land

    Sole source armoured vehicle deal with General Dynamics costs double original estimates

    DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The Liberal government is buying new armoured vehicles for the Canadian Forces but the sole source deal will cost taxpayers double what was originally estimated. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Friday that the government would buy 360 combat support Light Armoured Vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada, with the project costing $3 billion. The project was originally announced by the Liberal government with an estimated cost between $500 million and $1.5 billion. The plan was to award the contract in 2023 after a competition. But with the federal election looming the deal was fast-tracked by the Liberals, joining a series of recent defence-related funding announcements. A competition was jettisoned, replaced with a sole-source deal with General Dynamics, based in London, Ont. The deal includes a $650 million repayable loan, but the Department of National Defence said it had no details on that arrangement. It referred questions to Global Affairs Canada, which noted in an emailed statement that the federal government is “willing to provide a loan to General Dynamics Land Systems Canada to ensure the timely delivery of the Light Armoured Vehicles for our men and women in uniform. The Government of Canada is providing a loan to GDLS-C to support jobs and suppliers as GDLS-C navigates a challenging and dynamic international defence market.” The terms of the loan would be negotiated over the coming weeks, Global Affairs Canada added. The DND noted that the project costs include not only the vehicles but logistics support and new infrastructure to house and maintain the equipment. General Dynamics will provide the new vehicles in eight variants. They will be used as ambulances and in other roles such as vehicle recovery, engineering, mobile repair, electronic warfare and as command posts. The current fleet of armoured support vehicles is comprised of the LAV II Bison and the M113 tracked vehicle. The federal government said it is in the final stages of contract negotiations with General Dynamics. The contract is expected in the coming weeks. It noted in a news release that fast-tracking the deal would allow the Department of National Defence to save costs associated with maintaining or extending the life of the current fleet. The DND stated the contract was sole-sourced to General Dynamics as the firm builds most other armoured vehicles for the Canadian Forces and having a vehicle based on the same chassis allows for savings in maintenance and training. The company's light armoured vehicle is the core of the Canadian Forces armoured vehicle fleet. In addition, as the company has recently completed the conversion of the light armoured vehicle fleet to a new configuration so it has the skilled workforce in place, according to the DND. That would reduce the risk of delays in delivery of the new vehicles, stated the DND in an email. “For these reasons, we believe it would not be in the public interest to solicit bids,” it added in an email. General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada is also building similar light armoured vehicles for Saudi Arabia in a deal worth $15 billion. The Liberal government launched a review of that controversial contract after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Earlier this year a United Nations report determined that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the killing of Khashoggi who was a critic of that country's regime. Saudi Arabia has also faced severe criticism for its role in the ongoing war in Yemen, with allegations it has conducted unlawful airstrikes on civilians. A dozen organizations sent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a letter earlier in August, questioning the status of the review and pointing out that no updates on progress have been provided. The lack of such information has brought “the sincerity of the effort into question,” according to the letter endorsed by organizations such as Oxfam Canada and Amnesty International. Various groups have demanded the Liberals cancel the Saudi deal, which was negotiated by the previous Conservative government. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/sole-source-armoured-vehicle-deal-with-general-dynamics-costs-double-original-estimates

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