CASR

Defence
Budget & 
Procurement
Practices 

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Notice  of
Proposed
Procurement
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Leopard 2 AEV  –  Armoured Engineer Vehicle  –  News  –  May 2012 Leopard Specialty Vehicle: the MERX Contract Award Notice for Armoured Engineer Vehicle Conversion and the Political Fallout Appended below is a terse Contract Award Notice now posted on the MERX website. This Contract Award Notice caused something of a political tempest in a teapot. DND has been accused by opposition MPs of trying to hide details of military spending by burying the award of  a  $105M  procurement contract amongst mundane contracts for construction work and the like. The surprise is that opposition MPs think this is news. At issue is the misfiling of this Contract Award Notice for the conversion of a spare Leopard 2 hull into an Armoured Engineer Vehicle (AEV). When any procurement document is prepared, a Goods and Services Identification Number is assigned based on GSIN categories. When the AEV Conversion NPP was written in Oct  2010, someone assigned GSIN  N2520 – standing for "Vehicle Power Transmission Components".[1] As its description in GSIN suggests, N2520 is generally applied to spare part orders.[2] Complete rebuilding of an armoured vehicle to fill a different role falls well outside that limited definition.  But burying things in MERX notices has become common practice. The Problem of  Procurement Procedures –  Secrecy begets Obsfucation by Instinct Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay has been quick to deny that DND tried to hide spending details. In an interview on CTV, the MND was quoted as saying "That ... was on a DND and Public Works website for three years. It was released accurately in detail at the time ... and suggestions otherwise are simply false." Is MacKay saying that the rebuilding of armoured vehicles can be accurately described as  'spare parts' ? Comparisons can be readily made with the procurement systems of other countries. In Australia, for example, major military procurements are bundled  in hierarchical groups. This doesn't ensure successful procurement. But it does lay out all procurement plans and progress is a way that's accessible to the non-specialist citizen – opposition MPs included. Denmark provides a similar model for clarity in procurement. The case of the Danes is especially relevant here since they bought the earlier version of FFG's Wisent AEV. That was done within the framework of Denmark's Five-Year Defence Plan which means that the Danish military couldn't afford to take two years to order one prototype as Canada has just done. Transparency and efficiency  in procurement.  Must be nice! Getting there in the End  –  Nowadays just Choosing Something is a Victory of Sorts If  the MND and  NDHQ  wonder  why they rarely get credit  when  something  finally  pups through their labyrinthine procurement birth canal, it's this: no-one can follow the plot. The citizens know that something is going on –  their wallets keep getting lighter – they just cannot puzzle their way through to an honest, straightforward scrap of information. Some at NDHQ play the 'if you knew what I know' game. Cynical CF members sneer at journalists for 'getting it wrong' and  think it witty to deride the 'sheeple'  for losing convoluted plots. Lost in all of this is the minor miracle that an actual Canadian military procurement has occurred. Media reports have tended to miss the "Quantity: 1" part but it's something. What  it all signifies is trickier. The Armoured Engineer Vehicle  is a sub-set of  DND's Tank Replacement Project  but not of the related  Force Mobility Enhancement project. The latter includes Armoured Recovery Vehicle conversions. That is relevant because Rheinmetall's ARV 3 Büffel was chosen in preference to its FFG rival, the BPz Wisent 2. Wisent 2 can act as either ARV or AEV.  DND's reason for rejecting  FFG's Wisent 2 as an ARV whilst preferring the exact same conversion for AEV might be perfectly sound. Of course, the general citizenry are never privy to such reasoning. Instead, those who dare question DND can expect to be shouted down by the Minister representing them. The thing is, providing navigation through  that  byzantine planning-and-procurement maze at DND is part of Peter MacKay's job. DND has wallowed in their rather paranoid puddle of secrecy  for decades. Has Peter MacKay ever questioned  why  he is such a 'popular' MND within DND? Consider the possibility that all of your fierce defences of your Department are just part of the domestication process Pete. Then try to suck less. [1] 'Vehicle Power Transmission' is used in its loosest sense here to create a category broad enough to cover most vehicular running gear components. The suggestions in media reports that GSIN N2520 is restricted to "transmission parts" alone is inaccurate. [2] Eg: NPP for "Spare Parts - Leopard Tanks" (Solicitation Number W8486-118547/A). ________________________________________ LEOPARD 2  CONVERSION  TO AEV   [ Armoured Engineer Vehicle ]  –  MERX  Contract Award Notice ________________________________________ Contract Number                  W8476-102292/001/BLB Reference Number                PW-$$BL-270-20016 Solicitation Number              W8476-102292/B Dates Closed          — Awarded       2012-04-04 Published     2012-04-05 Contract  End Date — Details Award Type               Award Notice GSINS                         N2520 GSINS Description   VEHICULAR POWER TRANSMISSION COMPONENTS Amount                      $81,559,692.00 EUR   [ Cdn $105,455,034.56 ] Solicitation Method — Notice Description Leopard 2 AEV Conversion Trade Agreement:  Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement:  No Notification Method: Public Advertising (MERX/GBO) Contract Award Procedure (Procurement Strategy): Best Overall Proposal GSIN Description: Vehicular Power TRANSMISSION Components Quantity: 1 Supplier Information FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH thorsten.peter@ffg-flensburg.de joerg.kamper@ffg-flensburg.de Flensburg 24939 Germany Buyer Information DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE 101 COLONEL BY DR. OTTAWA ON K1A0K2 CAN