CASR

Defence
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GoC
Press
Release
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Strategic Industries – National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy – Oct 2010 "It's about inclusion, not exclusion":  Lumping Everyone onto a 'Short-List'  for the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy As promised, the Federal Goverment has announced the short-list of shipyards for the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. Not too surprisingly, this list narrows the field down to every single Canadian yard capable of constructing large vessels  – now or in the recent past. Apparently it takes months for bureaucrats to draw up such lists. Here's that shipyard short-list from West to East:  BC's Vancouver Shipyards,  Seaway Marine in Ontario,  Quebec's Davie Yards,  Halifax's  Irving Shipbuilding, and Kiewit in Newfoundland (ironically, the GoC short-list, gives corporate headquarters not yards). Tim Colton, a columnist at Marine Log who also produces Maritime Memos, had some interesting  comments on this short-list.  Colton  notes that  "Davie is bankrupt" again, Kiewit's  Marystown Shipyard  "is much too small", while  Seaway Marine  "is a repair yard [ that ] hasn't actually built a complete ship since 1992". That leaves Washington Marine Group (listed as Vancouver Shipyards) and Irving Shipbuilding as the obvious contenders. Obvious, except for Canadian politics. An American, Mr. Colton, imposed a rational actor and struck off two Central Canadian yards for practical considerations. Alas, that is not  how  Canadian political decisions are made (and the sole-sourcing of F-35s shows the Harper Government's readiness to make major military procurement an entirely political decision when it suits them ). In other words, if choosing one or other shipyard for the NSPS will help secure Tory seats in future, that will dictate the choice. Mr. Colton continues saying "the obvious political desirability of selecting" yards on either coast, leaves us with Irving and WMG. Citing Irving's "track record of building surface combatants", he assumes that future warships will be built in Halifax while the non-combatants would go to Vancouver  ( or, more probably, Victoria ). Logical again, but this ignores political factors which may skew the choice away from the predictable. The Mulroney government had to choose between a West Coast shipbuilding project, the Polar 8 icebreaker,[1] and an East Coast project, the Halifax class Canadian Patrol Frigate. No-one was surprised when the East Coast got the gig.  The Tories knew they could short-change BC at little political cost. [2]  When the Progressive Conservatives imploded in 1993,  it was Stephen Harper's old  Reform Party that made the gains in BC. The current government is well aware of how much or little it must give to the West.[3] Hope springs but people in BC know not to count chickens when dealing with Ottawa. [1] The cancelling of Polar 8 signaled the end of Versatile Pacific Shipyards (formerly Burrard). Within two years, the North Vancouver yards closed  followed by Esquimalt. [2] In 1984, the BC split had been 19 PC, 1 Liberal, and 8 NDP seats. In 1989 major party fortunes reversed, PCs got 12 seat, the NDP 19 – the Reform had just been formed and won no seats.  In the 1993 Tory implosion, PCs lost all their BC seat, the NDP dropped to 2, the Liberals gained 5, but the new Reform Party was the true winner with 24 seats. [3] Stephen Harper was Chief Policy Officer for the Reform Party in that 1988 election. Of course, the Conservative Party of Canada  that Mr. Harper  now leads was created from remnants of the PCs and the Reform Party's successor, the Canadian Alliance. 22:10 ADT (Saturday, Oct 09, 2010) – Government of Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada Results of Shipbuilding Qualification Process OTTAWA, Ontario, October 8, 2010 – On behalf of Public Works and Government Services Canada, the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy Secretariat today announced the results of a Solicitation of Interest and Qualification process to build large vessels for Canada under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy. Five Canadian shipyards have been short-listed to build these large vessels.  They are:   *  Davie Yards Inc.,  Lévis, QC   *  Irving Shipbuilding Inc.,  Saint John, NB   *  Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd.,  North Vancouver, BC   *  Kiewit Offshore Services - a division of Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Milton, ON   *  Seaway Marine & Industrial Inc.,  St. Catharines, ON These shipyards will be invited to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, and will meet with the National Shipbuilding Procurement Secretariat on Tuesday, October 12 in Ottawa. Canada will establish a strategic relationship with two Canadian shipyards: one yard will be selected to build combat vessels while the other yard will build non-combat vessels, creating jobs in various regions of the country. The National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy is the result of extensive consulta- tions with the Canadian marine and shipbuilding industry and will help to revitalize Canadian shipyards and build ships for the Navy and the Coast Guard here in Canada. It was launched on June 3, 2010. To ensure the fairness, openness and transparency of this procurement process, two industry days have already been held and a first meeting with the short-listed ship- yards is planned for October 12, 2010. In addition, a fairness monitor is participating in the selection process and an internationally recognized third-party expert will bench- mark the capability and performance of  the short-listed Canadian shipyards. Finally, a leading consulting firm has been engaged to provide expert advice on the procurement process. The selection of the two winning shipyards is expected in spring 2011.