What's Canada Buying? August 11, 2012

• Senator Colin Kenny on chopper purchases  “The Canadian government’s handling of helicopter purchases over the past two decades gives new meaning to a bevy of adjectives, like foot-dragging, flawed, clumsy and misguided. But there are even uglier words that need to be used here.  Let’s start with guinea pigs. If it weren’t for the Guinea Pig Factor, Canadians might be able to forgive at least some of the other blunders connected to Canada’s history of purchasing helicopters. But violating the Guinea Pig Factor is unforgivable.  This is it: mid-sized countries with large and looming equipment needs and tight budgets cannot afford to volunteer as guinea pigs so a company can figure out whether an important piece of equipment (a) will actually work; and (b) can be delivered on time at the agreed price.  Countries should also try to avoid the Early Bird Factor: don’t buy sophisticated equipment early in production – wait until some other daring fools have purchased and used it enough to ensure that it doesn’t break down ….”
• Another hat tip to Mark Collins for this one  Ooopsie….  “The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the Tribunal) has received a complaint from Team Sunray and CAE Inc., of Ottawa, Ontario, concerning a procurement (Solicitation No. W8476-112965/A) by the Department of Public Works and Government Services (PWGSC) on behalf of the Department of National Defence. The solicitation is for the provision of an integrated soldier system ….” – the original bid posting is also available here if the link above doesn’t work.
• Wanted:  someone to help cart away ookie soil from the old damage control school at CFB Halifax for ~$240,000 - more on other contaminated sites in the area (from Treasury Board’s online contaminated sites inventory) here, and on previous clean-up/fix up work done in the area (Google) here.
  
• Wanted:  someone to help keep an older Cessna plane flying for an Air Cadet glider program - more on the Cessna L-19 (usual caveats about Wikipedia) here.
• F-35 Tug o’ War  First “bombs away” for one JSF version  “The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II …. accomplished a significant test milestone Aug. 8 by demonstrating a successful weapons release during a flight at Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.  U.S. military officials at the test site see this as a “significant entry into a new phase of testing for the F-35 program,” which includes validating the F-35′s capability to employ precision weapons and allow pilots to engage the enemy on the ground and in the air.  The release was the first time any version of the F-35 conducted an airborne weapon separation, as well as the first from an internal weapon bay for a fighter aircraft designated for the U.S. Marine Corps, the United Kingdom and Italy ….”

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