OTTAWA – As the federal government continues its $1 billion appliance projects for the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defense’s most sensible procurement officer said COVID-19 is still slowing down some purchases that are already delayed.
More than six months have been marked through a series of primary milestones for Canada’s troubled procurement system, the presentation last week of the first of the 16 new army search and rescue aircraft after 16 years of delays and controversies.
Procurement officials are also reviewing 3 earned bids from fighter jet brands in late July, as Canada approaches the variety of a replacement for the old CF-18s after more than a decade of political mismanagement.
The recent hit list also includes Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding, which delivered the first of six new Arctic offshore patrol vessels last July, while progress has been made on a number of other issues, such as the acquisition of new long-run engineering cars for the military.
However, some of these milestones would have been achieved faster with COVID-19. And Troy Crosby, Deputy Deputy Minister of Defense Material, acknowledges that many other projects are also affected.
This includes more than a hundred army purchases, some of which referred to new aircraft and the rest were aimed at building new infrastructure at Canadian Forces bases across the country, which were already delayed before the pandemic hit.
“COVID didn’t drive anything,” Crosby said in an interview with Canadian Press. “I think everyone would perceive that this is going to have an effect on what this affects. And it’s hard to say exactly what this has an effect on. “now. “
Delays in army procurement can have several impacts: in some cases, such as CF-18s, the Canadian Armed Forces are forced to continue using devices purported to have been eliminated years ago; in others, delays are increasing the cost of new inflation purchases.
The maximum maximum projects that are likely to be delayed due to COVID-19 are those in production, Crosthrough said. Examples come with the structure of new warships through Irving and Seaspan ULC in Vancouver, which had to take a physical distance and other COVID-19 measures in their shipyards.
“For projects that are on a level where paintings are based on the Array . . . once we got over that initial bump, as everyone had to do as we headed to a remote paint pose, the paintings continued,” Crosby said.
“If you’re in a shipyard and you’re looking to advance the production of a ship given all the physical distance needs and fitness and protection considerations, it’s difficult. “
Crosby has argued in the past that much of the frustration with army procurement is the result of unrealistic expectations born of a lack of understanding and appreciation of how the formula works, which deals more with projects than at any other time in recent history.
COVID-19 has also raised the hypothesis that the liberal government could begin to reduce its promise, revealed in 2017, to spend $553 billion on the military over the next 20 years. “Nice place to stay”
When asked about the spending plan, which is contained in liberal defense policy and known as Strong, Safe, Committed, Crosby said: “Strong Committed Insurance remains our purpose and has established a paint program and we will run this program.
“This has been the case with this COVID situation. It didn’t replace anything . . . The other people in the curtain group, the other people we paint with all over the government, we’re all dealing with the program. “
This Canadian Press report was first published on September 28, 2020.