What's Canada Buying? July 23, 2012

•  (More on) What’s Canada (Not) Buying (Anymore)? “The federal government scrapped plans to replace the military’s aging army trucks … because the project was $300 million over budget, an official has confirmed. “The initial cost that was estimated was somewhere in the neighbourhood of $400 million,” said Chris Alexander, parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence, in an appearance on Power & Politics. The Department of National Defence has been grilled for adding new, more costly specifications for the 1,500-truck fleet without the approval of the Treasury Board. The discrepancy was dealt with at the 11th hour, and Public Works emailed bidders just three minutes before the deadline to pull the plug. The bidding companies were left reeling after having spent hundreds of thousands preparing for the bid, which was called down last Wednesday … The government initially said marketplace and budgetary circumstances were to blame, but CBC News has learned that the reasons are more complicated. CBC’s James Cudmore reports that the military has known for years that it was going to have to spend millions more than the government had budgeted in order to buy the trucks the army wanted. Sources tell CBC News that the military thought it would be able to get government approval for the additional spending retroactively, and pushed ahead with the program. The day before the July 11 deadline, the deputy ministers for Defence, Public Works and the Treasury Board met to discuss the program. The decision to halt the project was made the next day, and bidding companies were only notified three minutes before the deadline …”

• Wanted:  Someone to do research to make surveillance/other sensors smaller and better – a bit more detail in bid document excerpt here (via Google Docs)

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