Planbox Partners With the Royal Canadian Navy

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  29 janvier 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

  CAE contracted to upgrade NATO E-3A AWACS training devices

  CAE announced it has signed a contract amendment with the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Program Management Agency (NAPMA) to perform avionics updates on the E-3A flight deck simulator and E-3A flight training device located at NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen in Germany. The avionics updates to the training devices relate to the latest standards of the advanced Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) systems currently being implemented on NATO's fleet of 14 E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The avionics updates to the E-3A flight deck simulator will be complete in 2021. “CAE has supported the training of NATO E-3A aircrews for almost 40 years, and these simulators continue to play a key role in helping ensure the readiness of the E-3A aircrews from 16 nations who carry out a range of critical missions,” said Marc-Olivier Sabourin, vice-president and general manager, Defence & Security International, CAE. “The avionics upgrades we will deliver continue our longstanding support of the E-3A training devices, and we look forward to supporting the NATO E-3A AWACS mission through 2035 as part of the Final Lifetime Extension Program of the fleet.” CAE designed and manufactured the original NATO E-3A flight deck simulator that entered service in 1982. Since that time, the simulator has been continuously upgraded and enhanced to ensure concurrency with the aircraft and enable E-3A aircrews to conduct more synthetic training. The E-3A flight deck simulator is currently qualified to Level D, the highest for flight simulators. The CAE-built E-3A flight training device is qualified to Level II and is used to support familiarization and procedural training for aircrews prior to full-mission training in the E-3A flight deck simulator. CAE is currently responsible for maintenance and support of the E-3A training devices in addition to providing a cadre of instructors and mission system operators to support the delivery of training to NATO E-3A AWACS aircrews. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/cae-contracted-to-upgrade-nato-e-3a-awacs-training-devices

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  2 novembre 2018 | Local, Naval

  Frégates de la classe Halifax du Canada : prêtes à servir, maintenant et dans le futur

  GATINEAU, QC, le 1er nov. 2018 /CNW/ - Dans le cadre de la Stratégie nationale de construction navale (SNCN), le gouvernement du Canada fournit aux membres de la Marine royale canadienne (MRC) les navires sûrs et efficaces dont ils ont besoin pour protéger la population et les intérêts du Canada. Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada a émis, au nom du ministère de la Défense nationale, des préavis d'adjudication de contrats (PAC) indiquant son intention de confier la prestation de services de soutien à la maintenance des 12 frégates de la classe Halifax du Canada à Irving Shipyards Inc., d'Halifax (Nouvelle-Écosse), à Chantier Davie Canada Inc., de Lévis (Québec), et à Seaspan Victoria Shipyards, de Victoria (Colombie-Britannique). Les 3 contrats totaliseront une valeur d'environ 7 milliards de dollars (taxes comprises). Ces contrats seront attribués dans le cadre du volet des projets de réparation, de radoub et de maintenance de navires de la SNCN. Les 12 frégates de la classe Halifax pourront ainsi continuer de faire l'objet de travaux de maintenance et d'ingénierie jusqu'à la livraison des navires de combats canadiens. Ces PAC font suite à une vaste consultation de l'industrie lancée en décembre 2016. Il a été établi à la lumière de cette consultation que ces 3 chantiers navals canadiens possèdent les effectifs et l'infrastructure nécessaires pour exécuter les travaux nécessaires dont les frégates de la classe Halifax ont besoin. Avec ces PAC, le Canada déclare son intention de passer des contrats avec ces 3 chantiers navals canadiens identifiés. Les autres fournisseurs intéressés à soumissionner l'un de ces contrats disposent de 15 jours civils pour signaler leur intérêt en soumettant un « énoncé de capacités » qui satisfait aux exigences décrites dans les PAC. Citations « Le renouvellement des flottes de la Marine royale canadienne au cours des 30 prochaines années, dans le cadre de la Stratégie de construction navale, est en cours partout au pays. Notre gouvernement, qui s'est engagé à long terme à maintenir une force navale agile et réactive, fournira à la Marine et à ses marins les navires fiables dont ils ont besoin pour faire leur travail, et ce, tout en protégeant les intérêts de toute la population canadienne. » L'honorable Carla Qualtrough Ministre des Services publics et de l'Approvisionnement et de l'Accessibilité « Tel que souligné dans notre politique de défense, Protection, Sécurité, Engagement, nous nous assurons que nos femmes et hommes de la Marine royale canadienne sont équipés avec les navires dont ils ont besoin pour servir les Canadiens. Notre gouvernement prend les mesures nécessaires pour que nos frégates modernisées de la classe Halifaxpuissent continuer à protéger les eaux canadiennes et à contribuer de façon significative aux opérations internationales. Ces contrats permettront à nos frégates de rester disponibles pour les opérations tout en augmentant le nombre d'emplois et revitalisant les capacités de maintenance de navires au Canada, tel que mentionné dans notre Stratégie nationale de construction navale. » L'honorable Harjit S. Sajjan Ministre de la Défense nationale Les faits en bref La Politique des retombées industrielles et technologiques s'appliquera à ce marché, y compris l'obligation de soumettre une proposition de valeur. Des périodes de cale sèche aux fins de maintenance sont essentielles, parce qu'elles permettent d'assurer la disponibilité et la fiabilité des frégates de la classe Halifax lors de leur cycle opérationnel et de leur déploiement. La MRC possède 12 frégates de la classe Halifax. Sept (7) d'entre elles sont stationnées à Halifax (Nouvelle‑Écosse), et les 5 autres à Esquimalt (Colombie-Britannique). La MRC exige qu'au moins 8 des 12 frégates puissent être déployées en tout temps pour qu'elle puisse honorer ses engagements envers le gouvernement du Canada. Les navires doivent faire l'objet d'un vaste éventail de modifications techniques, d'installations d'équipement, de mises en cale sèche et d'activités d'entretien correctif qui permettront d'en assurer le bon fonctionnement et l'utilité jusqu'à la fin de leur durée de vie. SOURCE Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/fregates-de-la-classe-halifax-du-canada--pretes-a-servir-maintenant-et-dans-le-futur-699260721.html

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  29 mars 2019 | Local, Naval

  SNC-Lavalin's legal woes are putting a $500M federal defence contract at risk

  Murray Brewster · CBC News A SNC-Lavalin contract with the Department of National Defence (DND) worth half a billion dollars comes up for renewal next year — when the Montreal-based engineering giant is expected to be on trial over corruption charges. The pending expiry of the $507 million contract to support the servicing of minor warships and auxiliary vessels, signed in 2011, sharpens the debate over what a guilty verdict would mean for the Quebec-based engineering giant and whether a conviction actually would mean subjecting the company to a 10-year ban on bidding for federal contracts. The stakes are high for DND. In addition to holding an important defence contract, SNC-Lavalin has access to a range of secret military drawings, equipment and intellectual property. Although its agreements are periodically reopened to new bids, the embattled corporation has been a reliable contractor for National Defence. A survey of active federal government contracts shows DND and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) were the two biggest users of SNC-Lavalin services and construction during the current fiscal year. Across the whole of the federal government, SNC-Lavalin holds 53 'active' federal government contracts — 25 of them with DND — with a combined value of $670 million. A company with a big federal footprint The firm signed roughly $68 million in new or renewed agreements with the federal government ($23.7 million with DND and PSPC alone) in the current budget year up to the end of December. That figure excludes what could be a large number of smaller contracts worth less than $25,000 — contracts the federal government can award without competition. An inventory of those agreements is extremely difficult to track down, but PSPC acknowledged it awarded $146,522 in minor work to SNC-Lavalin in the current fiscal year. The RCMP laid corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin and some of its units in February 2015. All the charges relate to the company's operations in Libya. The charges allege that the company offered officials in that country $47 million in bribes and accuse SNC-Lavalin and two of its subsidiaries of defrauding various Libyan public agencies of approximately $129.8 million over 10 years, starting in 2001. The company has been at the centre of a political firestorm since early February, when The Globe and Mail reported that former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould felt pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to grant the company a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) — a legal tool which would have allowed the company to avoid a criminal trial by acknowledging fault and paying a fine, among other conditions. In defending their interest in a DPA for SNC-Lavalin, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others in his government have pointed to the scale of the engineering firm's business, the possibility it could be banned from federal government work and the number of people it employs. Scott Newark, a former Crown prosecutor who teaches at Simon Fraser University, said it's been clear from the outset that avoiding the federal contract ban has been SNC-Lavalin's main objective. The question of what would happen to those federal contracts should the company be convicted is a subject of debate, however. There are policy provisions that allow federal officials to cancel existing contracts and ban future bids from a company convicted of serious crimes, such as bribery. PSPC would only say the federal government would "assess the situation" if "a supplier becomes ineligible during the life of a contract" due to a conviction. The power to terminate or suspend a contract rests with federal bureaucrats, according to PSPC's Ineligibility and Suspension Policy. A company convicted of serious crimes can avoid being fired by the feds by signing an undertaking stating "that it will conduct business with Canada in an ethical and responsible manner." But there's never a guarantee that such an undertaking will be offered to a convicted company. Just three companies are currently banned from carrying on business with the federal government — all relatively small firms in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland. No ban on bidding during trial A spokesman for DND said there's nothing stopping SNC-Lavalin from continuing to bid on federal contracts as they appear, even during its trial. "These contracts were issued pursuant to Government of Canada contracting regulations, particularly as it concerns open, fair and transparent competitions," said Dan Le Bouthillier in an email. "Those regulations also stipulate that any company eligible to bid on Government of Canada contracts may continue to do so, so long as they meet the necessary requirements for the work." In an analysis piece for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Newark said PSPC is working on a revision of its 'integrity regime' policy to give federal officials more discretion to waive bans of individual companies contracting with the federal government. Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough has said her department is looking at eliminating fixed bidding disqualification periods and replacing them with a wholly discretionary determination — which would include the option of imposing no contracting ban at all. Even under the current system, Newark said, an order cancelling a company's federal contracts and banning it from future contracts following a conviction is far from a slam-dunk. "I checked on the Criminal Code and the Corruption of Public Foreign Officials Act and, of course, it's not in those statutes. It's not a mandatory consequence." he said. The integrity regime review has been underway in Qualtrough's department since 2017. Newark said he's amazed that nobody with the company or the federal government seems to have realized that a conviction for SNC-Lavalin could lead to something other than a 10-year contracting ban. "Why didn't anybody say, 'Hey wait a minute. We know what about this. We're changing our policy,'" he said. The head of procurement at DND attempted to reassure members of the all-party House of Commons defence committee during a hearing last month that SNC-Lavalin's "secret" work for the federal government does not pose an unacceptable risk. "We hold the intellectual property, the drawings and everything," Pat Finn testified on Feb. 28. "Irrespective of the circumstances in which the contract is terminated, we hold the material." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/snc-lavalin-s-legal-woes-are-putting-a-500m-federal-defence-contract-at-risk-1.5073996