(Ottawa) It would be downright “scandalous” if the Trudeau government decided to purchase 16 P-8A Poseidon aircraft from American giant Boeing in order to replace the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) aging fleet of CP-140 Auroras without launching a call for tenders in due form, affirms the president and general manager of Bombardier, Éric Martel.
Mr. Martel maintained Tuesday that Bombardier is fully capable of building and delivering state-of-the-art, less polluting maritime patrol aircraft at lower cost and within the timeframe required by the Department of Defense.
Delivering extensive testimony lasting almost an hour before the Standing Committee on Defense, the big boss of Bombardier did not mince his words to criticize the lack of transparency and fairness of the Ministry of Public Services and the Supply.
According to him, the approach taken by senior officials of this ministry to acquire aircraft on behalf of the RCAF to replace the 14 aging CP-140 Auroras was “flawed” from the start. This approach was limited to a call for interest from Canadian companies and had a single objective, according to him: to pave the way for the award of a contract without a call for tenders to Boeing. In recent months, senior officials have insisted that the P-8A is the only aircraft capable of meeting Canadian requirements.
“We are able to offer a more efficient aircraft. Our plane can fly faster and higher at a lower cost. We think we’ll be able to deliver these devices about $3 billion or $4 billion cheaper. You know, it’s taxpayers’ money,” Mr. Martel explained during his testimony.
Proof that the company is not a new player in this sector, Mr. Martel affirmed that Bombardier has been working with the Americans on military projects for many years. The company has also won similar contracts with countries such as Germany, Great Britain and Sweden, among others. “The Bombardier name shines at the Pentagon because we have planes that carry out missions in Afghanistan, planes that fly around 5,000 hours per year,” he said. We have a reputation for delivering our contracts on time. […] We have a lot of expertise. We have 550 planes. »
Mr. Martel strongly deplored that in Ottawa, “no one ever called us to find out what we were capable of doing.” The senior civil service’s approach was limited to a call for information to which Bombardier responded, but which came to nothing.
A few hours before his testimony, the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, and his Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford, issued a joint statement also urging the Trudeau government to launch a call for tenders.
“Last year, the federal government submitted a request for information to industry to replace its fleet of CP-140 aircraft. Canadian manufacturers have responded to this call, but the federal government continues to demonstrate its intention to exclude these companies and their workers from its supply process,” argued the prime ministers.
“This is why we are once again pleading with the federal government to adopt an open and fair tender process, which allows Canadian companies to compete. If the federal government maintains its intention to award a contract to a sole foreign supplier, we ask the House of Commons to mandate the Parliamentary Budget Officer to determine the costs and consequences of this decision. »
During the committee meeting, the Bloc Québécois tabled a motion which would have formally asked the federal government to launch a call for tenders. But liberal elected officials refused to allow its adoption immediately.
A few months ago, Bombardier joined forces with General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada, an Ottawa company which is an international supplier of anti-submarine technologies and airborne solutions for intelligence, surveillance purposes and recognition, to demonstrate that the company can build the devices required by the ARC.
In May, Canada formally requested the U.S. government to study the possibility of acquiring up to 16 P-8A Poseidon aircraft with spare parts, support equipment, training, training devices, equipment associated mission and initial support for a period of up to three years. Ottawa has since insisted that this does not constitute a firm order, but experts consulted by La Presse in the past believe otherwise.
Asked about the option of launching a call for tenders, Trudeau government ministers maintained that no decision had yet been made.
“No decision has yet been made,” said the Minister of Industry, François-Philippe Champagne. “Military procurement is rarely very, very fast. It’s complex too,” he said.
The Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Jean-Yves Duclos, echoed his colleague’s comments.
