Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/122908
I inside industry Unsupportive ship budget Yet another headwind for the Royal Canadian Navy's much anticipated fleet of new ships. In late February, the Parliamentary Budget Officer challenged the government's ability to procure the Joint Support Ships at the cost allocated under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. At the request of two members of Parliament, the PBO put the $2.63 billion budget to design and build two ships through a "parametric" cost model. And while final characteristics of the JSS – which in previous iterations have included core replenishment, underway medicalsupport, sealift capabilities and support to forces ashore – are not yet known, the PBO estimated that replacing the navy's two remaining 40 year-old Protecteur-class ships will cost $3.28 million. National Defence has estimated a budget of $2.33 billion, with an allocated contingency of $0.30 billion. The PBO said its "model suggests that these amounts will be insufficient." It went further, saying that based on the current stage of the program and the uncertainty around the final characteristics, U.S. Government Accountability Office "best practice recommends budgeting no less than $4.13 billion." The JSS has seen slow progress since a letter was first issued in February 2005 soliciting interest in the project. When the government issued a request for proposals a year later, the project had a $2.1 billion budget and an $800 million service contract allotment. But after two teams – ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and SNC-Lavalin Profac – completed a $12.5 million preliminary ship design, project implementation plan and in-service support plan, both bids were deemed non-compliant in August 2008. The process was restarted in July 2010 with a slightly larger budget and more realistic expectations of the JSS. Since October 2010, the government has followed a two-track process, asking ThyssenKrupp to "assess the risk of implementing the changes" to make its Berlin Class meet the statement of requirements, and then conduct design development activities. At the same time, it contracted with BMT Fleet Technology to develop a "clean sheet" design. No decision has been made on either option, but National Defence is expected to evaluate the two designs and select one prior to signing the design and build contract with Seaspan. Integrated soldier systems redux Following an announcement in March that the Integrated Soldier System Project was being restarted, the federal government has issued a new request for proposals. 8 APRIL/MAY 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com The ISSP, which will consist of 6,624 integrated suites of weapon accessories, electronic devices, sensors, individual equipment and operational clothing, is intended to provide soldiers with better situational awareness, shareable real-time tactical information and a greater ability to synchronize their activity with each other and with their vehicles. But so far it has failed to connect at the procurement stage. An RFP was originally issued in February 2012. On January 25 of this year, however, after contending companies had completed evaluations of their equipment at CFB Petawawa, the government cancelled the solicitation, saying all bids were non-compliant. The re-launch comes with some specialized oversight. In addition to an industry consultation day and a draft RFP in advance of the new solicitation on April 3, the government has also appointed an independent fairness monitor for the duration of the procurement. He apparently reviewed and concurred with the original decision to rule the previous round of bids non-compliant. Though the original RFP attracted companies that have recently supplied European armies with advanced, integrated soldier systems, the government said the Industrial and Regional Benefits Policy will "ensure that the winning contractor creates economic benefits in Canada equal to 100 percent of the contract value." Under further review After being taken to task more than once over its CF-18 replacement program numbers, the federal government is dotting every "i" and crossing every "t." In mid March, on behalf of the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat, it awarded a $56,217.50 contract to Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton to conduct an independent review of the application of National Defence's lifecycle cost estimates as part of the upcoming 2013 Annual Update to Parliament on the Next Generation Fighter Capability. Last fall, KPMG was asked to develop a lifecycle cost framework to guide the development of cost estimates for the next-gen fighter program. This new contract, the government said in a release, is "to ensure that this framework is appropriately applied by National Defence and that the cost estimates in the upcoming 2013 Annual Update are sound." Also in March, the Secretariat released a questionnaire to industry seeking detailed information on the technical capability of available fighter aircraft. That followed an earlier draft questionnaire that was sent to the five identified companies now contending for the program — Boeing, Dassault Aviation, EADS Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin and Saab.