DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN
The companies bidding on the Canadian Surface Combatant program will provide Irving Shipbuilding with their “cured” bids by July 21.
Earlier this year, Postmedia reported that all three bidders in the competition failed to meet some of the federal government's requirements.
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 earlier 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.
So those fixes are to be submitted by July 21, according to industry representatives.
If the bids are still considered “non-compliant” after the cure period they “will be eliminated from the competition,” according to the federal government.
The budget for the Canadian Surface Combatant project is estimated by the federal government to be between $55 billion and $60 billion. That is a range but specific costs won't be known until contacts are signed and more details worked out. Fifteen warships will be built.
Pat Finn, assistant deputy minister for materiel at the Department of National Defence, told Defence Watch he expects a winning bid to be selected by the end of this year.
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