A major decision in the federal governments nearly $26-billion program to build new combatant ships for the navy has been made behind closed doors and announced only quietly today at a meeting of defence industry insiders. The government announced Tuesday that Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax will be the prime contractor on the 15-ship Canadian surface combatant program. That program is seen to be the crown jewel in the governments $35-billion national shipbuilding procurement strategy to rebuild the capital fleet. Irving was long ago selected to build all the militarys combat ships, but Tuesdays announcement also puts Irving in charge of almost the entire project. That status theoretically affords the privately held company the opportunity to take profit as both shipbuilder and prime contractor. It would also give Irving significant power or sway in decisions about which subcontractors are invited to participate in the program, and at what price. Alan Williams, the Defence Departments former head of procurement, said the strategy is guaranteed to be confusing. No one really understands whats going on, and I think [the government] prefers to keep it that way, he told CBC News. Williams said the government should have held a competition to determine who would be prime contractor on the multibillion-dollar project.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 01:16:59 +0000
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