The problems centre around technical issues. Some are minor but in other cases there is a view among defence industry officials that Canada is asking for too much in some areas
Canada's quest for a new fleet of warships is off to a rocky start with all bidders failing to meet some of the federal government's requirements.
Procurement officials are now trying to regroup on the $60-billion project and figure out ways that bidders might be able to change their proposals to make them acceptable, a number of defence industry executives pointed out.
The problems centre around technical issues. Some are minor but in other cases there is a view among defence industry officials that Canada is asking for too much in some areas such as radar, which may be causing problems with meeting requirements.
Public Services and Procurement Canada spokeswoman Michèle LaRose said the bids received for the Canadian Surface Combatant project have not been disqualified. Three bids have been received. The federal government and Irving Shipbuilding are still evaluating the proposals, she added. LaRose pointed out that the evaluation is at the second stage in the process.
Government officials say that involves what is known as “the cure process” in which bidders will be given details of how their proposals have failed to meet the stated criteria. They will then be given only one opportunity to fix issues with their bids.
If they are still considered “non-compliant” after the cure period they “will be eliminated from the competition,” according to the federal government.
Technical specifications are now being evaluated by the government. Later this year, the companies will provide the financial information related to their bids.
Warship builders submitted their bids on Nov. 30. A winning bid is expected to be selected sometime this year.
Irving Shipbuilding will begin construction of the first ship in the early 2020s and delivery of the first vessel is expected in the mid-2020s, according to the federal government.
But the project has been plagued with delays and controversy.
The final cost of the ships is still unknown. In 2008 the government estimated the total cost of the project to be about $26 billion.
But in 2015 navy commander Vice Admiral Mark Norman voiced concern that taxpayers may not have been given all relevant information, and publicly predicted the cost for the ships alone would be around $30 billion.
Cost estimates for the project are now between $55 billion and $60 billion.
About half of the cost is for systems and equipment that will go on the 15 ships, according to federal documents obtained by Postmedia through the Access to Information law. “Approximately one-half of the CSC build cost is comprised of labour in the (Irving's) Halifax yard and materials,” the documents added.
Last year, Jean-Denis Fréchette, the parliamentary budget officer, estimated the CSC program would cost $61.82 billion. He also warned that every year the awarding of the contract is delayed beyond 2018, taxpayers will spend an extra $3 billion because of inflation.
The surface combatant will be the backbone of the future Royal Canadian Navy.
In November in a surprise twist a French-Italian consortium declined to formally submit a bid and instead offered Canada a fleet of vessels at half the price.
Officials with Fincantieri of Italy and Naval Group of France said they don't believe the procurement process as it is currently designed will be successful.
Instead they provided the Canadian government with a direct proposal that Irving Shipbuilding on the east coast construct 15 ships based on the consortium's FREMM frigate design, which is proven and is currently in operation with the French and Italian navies. They are guaranteeing the cost of the ships at a fixed price of $30 billion.
The deal would have also focused on using Canadian technology on board the ships and included technology transfer to Canadian firms, so they could be involved in future sales of the FREMM vessels on the international market.
FREMM ships are operated by the Italian, French, Moroccan and Egyptian navies.
Under that plan, Irving could start building the warships almost immediately.
The Liberal government, however, rejected the deal.
February 11, 2022 | Local, Aerospace
(CercleFinance.com) - Boeing annonce qu'il compte présenter le P-8A Poseidon comme réponse à la demande d'information du Canada, Ottawa étant à la recherche d'avions de patrouille maritime à long rayon d'a... - 10/02/2022 à 16:50 - Boursorama
June 12, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By Rachel Emmanuel. Published on Jun 12, 2020 12:00am Experts say COVID-19 hasn't negatively impacted Canada's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), though the final result is still anyone's guess. The UN General Assembly will vote on June 17 on what countries will join the powerful body as non-permanent members for two-year terms. Canada is facing stiff competition from Norway and Ireland, who both entered the race earlier, to fill the two Western European and other states seats. Adam Chapnick, deputy director of education at the Canadian Forces College and a professor of defence studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, said the coronavirus pandemic has changed Canada's narrative in the race — it can now portray itself as a large, wealthy country capable of helping smaller, less affluent nations emerge from the COVID-19-induced economic downturn. “We have more money to give and as a result we can demonstrate, in a time like this, the value of having us at the centre of global power,” he told iPolitics on Thursday. “[The COVID-19 pandemic] has allowed Canada to highlight some of the factors that differentiate it from its competitors, in a way that it would otherwise not have been able to do.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced Canada would pursue a seat on the UNSC back in 2016, just months after the Liberals bounced the Harper government from power. An outline of Canada's campaign is displayed on the Global Affairs website and points to commitments like addressing climate change, promoting economic security and advancing gender equality. While Canada announced its campaign long before the global COVID-19 pandemic, Andrea Charron, an associate professor and director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, said the crisis could end up benefitting Canada's bid. Coming out of the coronavirus pandemic, she said Canada can signal that they'll be there to help struggling countries as they recover from their own economic crises. “It does no good if some states recover beautifully and others fall hopelessly behind,” Charron said. Like most other public gatherings, the vote will also be impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. In other years, all delegates would show up to UN headquarters in New York City and vote in person, with each round of voting taking a couple minutes. But this year, because of the pandemic, Chapnick said delegates now have a designated time to arrive and voting in the first round will take around 10 hours. Because a country requires two thirds of the vote to be elected, Chapnick said delegates will likely be asked to return to the building to vote again the following day or days, in the case that two countries aren't elected in the first round, which he said is probable. At a certain point, Chapnick said delegates might stop showing up to cast their ballots, with the bid becoming a “get out and vote campaign” that would never happen in a normal election year. “We've never had anything like this before,” he explained. Charron, who's also a Canadian Global Affairs Institute fellow, said it will be interesting to see how countries revamp their second ballot strategy, which refers to a country's plan to win the second seat if they didn't win in the first voting round. She said in a typical election, all the delegates are milling around and candidates can easily speak with particular countries in a last minute push to win their vote. However, because of COVID-19 restrictions, countries won't have quick access to make their case to the 192 UN delegates in one room. Chapnick said this new process has major implications for the second ballot strategy. Traditionally, he said Canada has had trouble creating a second ballot strategy because, as a G7 country, it assumes it will win in the first round. He said Canada is committed to the UN and views itself as a country that belongs on the security council, whereas smaller countries may ask to be considered in the second round if they lost to a more powerful country in the first run. “For a G7 country normally to have a second ballot strategy would suggest weakness,” he explained. But, by entering the race late, he said Canada now has wiggle room to develop a second ballot strategy — it can ask countries who pledged support to Norway or Ireland before Canada entered, to vote for the country in the second round, if there is one. Chapnick also said the Canadian team can spend the longer gap in between rounds calling delegates and asking for their support. Still, he warned that there's a “discount rate” of 15 to 35 per cent of countries who promised the Canadian government they'd vote for them, but won't. He said even the Canadian government cannot be sure who's voting for them. “Countries lie all the time,” he said. In fact, Chapnick said part of the reason the countries are voting in-person is because a number of countries refused to participate in electronic voting at the risk that someone could hack the system and realize a country broke their voting promises. He said countries break promises in one of two ways; countries make individuals deals to support all three countries but can only vote for two, or the head of government makes a promise and the ambassador then goes “freelance” when it comes time to vote. “You can never actually tell how a campaign is doing,” he warned. “Really strange things happen in these elections.” Charron said the good news is that all the UNSC candidates are excellent. She said there's concern that Canada will let this election define itself, with lots of national “gnashing of teeth” and deciding on the fate of the government in general, which she said is overblown. “It's just one of the organizations to which we belong,” she said. “We've won six times, we've lost times, we've survived, carried on in all cases.” https://ipolitics.ca/2020/06/12/experts-say-covid-19-hasnt-derailed-canadas-campaign-for-un-security-council-seat/
July 14, 2020 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
To ensure that the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the capabilities required for Canada to be Strong at home, Secure in North America and Engaged in the world, this policy commits to significant long-term investment. This includes $33.8 billion for 52 critical new capital projects. In addition, the policy provides $74.2 billion for existing assets and previously planned equipment, infrastructure and information technology projects. As part of Strong, Secure, Engaged, these projects underwent a thorough costing review, which resulted in the provision of an additional $5.9 billion over 20 years on top of what had previously been budgeted for these projects, to better reflect their true costs. In total, this new vision for defence provides $108 billion for the development and acquisition of capital equipment over the next 20 years. All of these projects have been costed and the costing methodologies used were independently verified by five external accounting firms. Throughout the process, Defence also worked with costing experts from Deloitte who brought expertise gained from its involvement in recent defence reviews of close Canadian allies. This rigorous and unprecedented process ensures that the vision laid out in this policy is credible and realistic. Table 1 reflects the planned use of the accrual budget over the 20-year horizon of this policy. It is important to note that this table does not represent the total cost of all planned equipment acquisitions. For example, the first new Canadian Surface Combatant is not scheduled to be delivered until 2026, followed by the remaining 14 ships. As these ships have an expected service life of 30 years, much of the accrual costs will be incurred outside the 20 years reflected in the table. Furthermore, as these are 20-year estimates, there needs to be flexibility to adjust the accrual budget to reflect changes in major capital projects. The process to adjust or re-profile these estimates over time is through the investment planning process. Defence will publish the next Defence Investment Plan in 2018. The Defence Investment Plan will include all approved capital projects under the policy and will be updated every three years. This will help ensure that Parliament and Canadians can clearly understand future changes to the budget, and deliver on the Government's commitment to transparency, results, and accountability. Table 1: 20-year accrual and cash view of planned projects and new investments ($ billions) 20-year - Accrual basis 20-Year - Cash basis Capability Investments to fully fund and complete planned projects table 1 note1 New investment Strong, Secure, Engaged table 1 note2 Total planned projects and new investments Total planned projects and new investments Royal Canadian Navy 14.6 2.9 17.5 53.5 Canadian Army 10.1 8.8 18.9 23.2 Royal Canadian Air Force 26.4 20.1 46.4 64.4 Special Operations Forces 1.2 0.4 1.5 1.2 Joint/Emerging Domains 3.4 1.2 4.6 9.7 Infrastructure 4.5 0.4 4.9 12.0 Total Capabilities 60.1 33.8 93.9 164.0 Accrual Expenditure for Existing Equipment and Infrastructure table 1 note3 14.1 - 14.1 - 20 Year Total table 1 note4 74.2 33.8 108.0 164.0 Table 1 Note 1 Strong, Secure, Engaged commits $74.2 billion over 20 years to fully fund 281 projects that were planned, but for which Defence had insufficient funding to acquire. Adequate funding has now been allocated to deliver these core equipment projects. Return to table 1 note1referrer Table 1 Note 2 Strong, Secure, Engaged commits $33.8 billion over the next 20 years to 52 new equipment, infrastructure, and information technology projects for the Canadian Armed Forces. Return to table 1 note2referrer Table 1 Note 3 This amount ($14.1 billion), on an accrual basis, represents previously acquired equipment and infrastructure. As they are already in service, there is no future cash requirement to purchase these assets. Return to table 1 note3referrer Table 1 Note 4 Totals may not add up due to rounding. Return to table 1 note4referrer Below is an overview of capital funding commitments in Strong, Secure, Engaged, described in terms of investments in the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, Special Operations Forces, Joint Capabilities and Infrastructure. Investment in the Royal Canadian Navy The Government will provide $17.5 billion to fund equipment projects for the Royal Canadian Navy over the next 20 years. This includes: $2.9 billion over the next 20 years for two new equipment investments in the Royal Canadian Navy to replace obsolete components of current systems and improve the Royal Canadian Navy's ability to meet evolving underwater threats. $14.6 billion over the next 20 years to fully fund planned equipment projects. For example, this policy includes sufficient funding to acquire the full complement of 15 Canadian Surface Combatants. It is important to note that Table 1 only captures a 20-year view of the equipment investments committed to in this policy. As the first ship is not scheduled to be delivered until 2026 and the fleet is expected to be in service for 30 years, there will be significant expenditures outside this timeframe. Investment in the Canadian Army The Government will provide $18.9 billion for Canadian Army equipment projects over the next 20 years. This includes: $8.8 billion over the next 20 years for 20 new equipment projects. As examples, this investment will replace existing light and heavy trucks for use in domestic and expeditionary operations. We will also improve the Canadian Army's ability to operate in Canada's North with a new family of Arctic-capable land vehicles, as well as close critical capability gaps such as the Canadian Army's lack of ground-based air defence equipment, which will allow it to defeat threats posed by airborne weapons such as remotely piloted vehicles and aircraft used by potential adversaries. $10.1 billion over the next 20 years to fully fund planned equipment projects. For example, the upgrade of the Light Armoured Vehicle fleet will improve mobility and survivability. Investment in the Royal Canadian Air Force The Government will provide $46.4 billion to fund equipment projects for the Royal Canadian Air Force over the next 20 years. This includes: $20.1 billion over the next 20 years for 17 new equipment projects for the Royal Canadian Air Force. For example, this will deliver a Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft to replace the CP-140 Aurora Long Range Patrol Aircraft, allowing us to maintain our technological advantage over potential adversaries. Under the Royal Canadian Air Force's responsibility for space capabilities, portions of new investment will expand the Canadian Armed Forces' ability to use space-based assets in support of operations. This includes projects for enhanced communications in the North. $26.4 billion to fully fund planned equipment projects. The new fighter program has been enhanced to ensure the Royal Canadian Air Force can acquire 88 new advanced fighters, which will allow us to deliver on NORAD and NATO commitments without compromise. Investment in Special Operations Forces The Government will provide $1.5 billion to fund equipment projects for Canada's Special Operations Forces over the next 20 years. This includes: $366 million over the next 20 years for four new projects. For example, integrated soldier system equipment will be modernized to enhance interoperability and maintain technological advantage against potential adversaries. $1.2 billion over the next 20 years to fully fund planned equipment projects. As an example, we will acquire an airborne intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platform that will enhance the ability of our Special Operations Forces to improve their understanding of the operational environment. Investment in joint capabilities The Government will provide $4.6 billion for joint capability projects in domains such as cyber, intelligence as well as joint command and control over the next 20 years. This includes: $1.2 billion over the next 20 years for five new equipment projects and one information technology project. For example, the Combined Joint Intelligence Modernization project will provide a modern deployable intelligence centre for land-based operations, building on the lessons learned in recent operations. Additionally, the Secure Radio Modernization project will upgrade encryption capability of radios to maintain security and interoperability with our Five-Eyes partners. $3.4 billion over the next 20 years to fully fund planned equipment projects. For example, we will improve the capabilities of the Joint Deployable Headquarters and Signals Regiment. This will include the acquisition of portable structures to house the deployed headquarters and the equipment employed by its staff for command, control and communications. Investment in infrastructure The Government will provide $4.9 billion over the next 20 years to infrastructure projects across Canada in order to maintain the necessary portfolio of real property holdings. This includes: $446 million over the next 20 years for three new infrastructure projects. For example, this funding will enable the construction of new buildings to house the expanded and enhanced Canadian Armed Forces Joint Incident Response Unit. This will ensure that the unit is able to provide chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defence support to the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. $4.5 billion to fully fund planned projects over the next 20 years. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/reports-publications/canada-defence-policy/annex-b.html