Posted on 10/31/2014 8:30:06 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Europe, led by France, wants a seat at Canada's defence procurement table. It's a not-unreasonable request, given that the prize being sought, as French President Françoi s Hollande pre pare s for his first state visit to Canada on Sunday, is merely a level playing field, as opposed to the stacked deck that has so often characterized this country's military purchases.
In an exclusive interview, Herve Guillou, who heads France's majority stateowned military shipbuilder, DCNS, said the company is "keen and eager" to begin discussions with Halifaxbased Irving Shipbuilding, with a view to offering both a design and combat systems for the new Canadian navy, a $26-billion project unveiled with some fanfare by the federal government in October 2011.
"We have no real limits into what we can offer in technology transfer," Guillou said. "And we can build in fact, completely, this ship in Canada - with any partners that (the) Canadian government would appoint for this program."
DCNS is not alone in its ambitions: A who's who of major French defence firms, including Dassault, Thales and MBDA, are champing at the bit to bid on Canadian defence procurements. At stake is not just the disposition of the new Canadian naval fleet, which is to eventually replace the Royal Canadian Navy's antiquated Halifax-and Iroquois-class ships, but a generational rebuild of Canada's heaviest military gear, with jet fighters and frigates the biggest-ticket items. The total projected price tag over the next two decades alone, as cited in last year's Jenkins Report, is $240 billion.
There's just one small obstacle in the way of this gigantic tranche of spending being managed in a manner that guarantees competitive bids and best value for tax dollars: The government has yet to decide whether it wishes to welcome the world to the barn-raising, or keep the lion's share of this work "in-house," that is to say within North America, by permitting the Defence Department to continue to rely, as it has long done, on longestablished relationships with U.S. contractors - the most prominent of which is Lockheed-Martin.
A decision that will determine whether the combat systems on the new frigates are effectively sole-sourced to Lockheed, or put up for competition, is expected to come from cabinet any day. This will have profound implications, for the simple reason that such systems and their integration comprise the lion's share of the value of a modern warship - 60 per cent or more. De facto, if you do the math, Ottawa is in the process of quietly determining whether just under $16 billion in federal government contracts are put up for bids, or not.
Guillou stressed that he believes the decision is entirely the Canadian government's to make. However, he made no secret of his preference. "This is a go-no-go decision for us," he said. "If (the) Canadian government decides to go sole-source, I don't see what we can honestly bring in this strategy." DCNS clearly believes it has what Canada needs, in its FREMM multi-purpose frigate: a proven, state-of-the-art design, ships already in the water (one for the Moroccan navy, three for the French, with eight more on order and five being built now in Lorient, in western France), and more than three centuries of continuous shipbuilding experience. Left unsaid is that Canada has not designed and built a new warship since the 1980s; doing this from scratch would mean, well, doing it from scratch.
Over the course of several days spent at Euronaval 2014, one of the world's largest defence-industry bazaars, a similar story emerged from different industry players who deal regularly with Canada: They hope for a fair process but they are uncertain of the government's intentions and leery of DND's traditional preference for Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon, its industrial partner. Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally intervened recently to settle a dispute between Defence
and Treasury Board, over whether to spend $800 million on next-generation "smart" missiles for the navy's Halifax-class frigates. The decision? A sole-source nod to Raytheon.
At issue are two approaches to procurement, defined by buzzwords that sound similar but in fact mean quite different things. The first, "most qualified team," denotes a single supplier's being selected based on past work, perceptions of reliability, and other factors that do not include a competition. The second, "most capable design," denotes a process whereby two opposing bids are chosen from among several, based on a statement of requirements. The final bids are refined over a period of a year or more, before a contractor is selected.
In addition to Lockheed-Martin and DCNS, BAE of the United Kingdom, TKMS of Germany and Finmeccanica of Italy could potentially bid to provide the combat systems of the new frigates, industry sources say, if allowed to do so.
So the strategic calculus for Harper this week, as he sits down for an intimate chat with his "close friend and ally," Hollande, will be simply this: Can Canada warmly embrace France as a strategic and economic partner, while simultaneously denying French and other European companies the opportunity to bid fair and square on important Canadian government projects? The logical answer would appear to be no. DCNS's Guillou, for his part, hopes to have an answer soon. "If the right decision is made, really, we are looking forward to working very closely with Canadian companies ... and we are very keen to become, ourselves, a Canadian company," he said.
Ping
I think that we should buy those assault ships the French built for the Russkis but won’t sell them.
I think we could get them for a good price, as a temptation for further potential sales.
Canada Ping!
Diagram reference? Where is the automated surrender halyard with permanently installed white flag?
Rename one of them HMCS Bonaventure. ;-)
I think it would makes sense for Canada to collect bids from qualified companies in friendly nations. Maybe the best ship at the best price would come from South Korea or somewhere unexpected?
Oooooo, MEE-OW! LOL.
Actually, that is a bit of a sore spot in the RCN to this day. It, and the Bras D’Or. I knew a guy who sailed on the Bras.
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