A follow up report in the National Post states that the federal government is on the verge of allowing the bids that were submitted on the $2 billion Close Combat Vehicles procurement to lapse without making an award:
To the long list of Canadian military procurement debacles it seems we can now add the $2.1-billion purchase of 108 medium weight infantry fighting vehicles.
The three submitted bids for the Close Combat Vehicles (CCV) expire on Monday. Public Works, the department handling the acquisition, has not announced a winner nor asked for a bid extension. Unless there is a surprise announcement Friday, the whole lengthy process will die a slow death early next week.
The cost to taxpayers of four years of running the tender – which included blowing up at least 12 armoured vehicles at the Aberdeen Test Centre in Maryland and sending the whole project back to the drawing board because none of the three bidders passed mandatory test requirements is an estimated $70-million.
That figure may rise further if any of the three disgruntled bidders General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, Nexter Systems of France and the Anglo-Swedish defence contractor, BAE Systems Hagglunds decides to seek compensation for the combined estimate of $80-million they have poured into the process.
The story also notes that the army has had its budget cut by 22% since the end of the Afghan war and that it is in the process of cancelling many of its heavy and medium truck procurements.
