Bypass the bidding process....

"We have neglected our military for so long that now we are in a crises and we are going to resolve this by bypassing normal purchasing procedures." Bidding may be bypassed in $ 12.2 billion military deal - see Globe and Mail - November 10th - see Nov 16 update at the end of this post...

Adscam would likely not have happened if everyone followed the rules that exist today and existed when all that happened but I guess some take longer to learn things than others.

Chief of Defence staff Rick Hillier wants to fast track the procurement of 50 military aircraft because the need is so urgent. The normal process takes years. If this fast tracking is allowed to happen a) it shows the Liberals have not learned anything and b) the Canadian aerospace and defence industry could lose the biggest defence procurement contracts in a generation.

This at a time when the high Canadian dollar is costing Canada well paying manufacturing jobs and the only thing keeping the economy moving is the low interest rates which are fueling housing development.

They meet to discuss this on Monday November 14th - Call your MP please.

November 16th - Update - General Hillier presented his plan to cabinet ministers on Monday which outlined very specific requirements, within a very short time frame for delivery (3 years). These requirements can be met by Italy's Alenia C-27J SaR and the U.S.-made Hercules transport plane and Chinook helicopter. While other companies may bid on the project it is unlikely any would be able to meet the 3 year time frame because they would have to develop the aircraft. This would mean Canadian companies would be shut out of the process.

In business, when there is an RFQ (Request For Quotation), issued, there is often a company that has helped to write the specifications for the RFQ. If that company happens to have connections to or actually be one of the companies that will be part of the "fair" bidding process and may end up supplying the good or service, they often slant the specifications in their favour so only they can fully meet the criteria thereby eliminating the competition and allowing them to charge a higher price.

This may or may not have happened here, but it certainly does not look good and you would think that the Liberals would want to look as fair and unbiased as possible.

General Hillier says it is vital we push this through as quickly as possible. Too bad. Since when is this country run by Generals? The General says that our troops in Afghanistan need them. Oh really? First of all what are they doing now without them? Second of all, if the troops are not equipped to do their job now (and the aircraft are 3 years away) maybe we should just bring them home or change their objective? Thirdly, if these are tailored to the work we are now doing in Afghanistan, who says we will be doing the same work in 3 years when they are ready or 20 years when we are somewhere else?

To my knowledge (and I am certainly not an aircraft engineer so correct me if I am wrong), there is no reason that a Canadian company such as Bombardier could not make these planes, given enough time. Would a 6 year delivery be that much worse than a 3 year, if it meant the products were made in Canada, by Canadians?

[After all we just guaranteed a 1.5 billion dollar loan to Air Canada so they could buy planes from Bombardier. (August 2004). We also provide Bombardier loans at very low interest rates in order to win other business around the world, a practice that has been ruled as unfair by the World Trade Organization..But I digress].

As of now the decision has been postponed till after the election - make sure you ask the Liberals about this during the election.