What's Canada Buying? December 19, 2012

• F-35 Tug o’ War (1)  Defence Minister:  “…. We will safeguard your tax dollars as we equip our airmen and airwomen with the tools they need.”
  
• F-35 Tug o’ War (2) Mark Collins on the DND Info-machine fact sheet on the F-35 returning to the interwebs – welcome back!
• F-35 Tug o’ War (3) “If Canada abandons the purchase of F-35 fighter jets it could have negative consequences for companies that currently supply components for the costly aircraft, the head of landing gear company Heroux-Devtek said Tuesday.  The Quebec-based company has about $150,000 of content on each plane for the landing gear door uplocks it supplies. That’s down from about $750,000 before it sold its aerostructure business this summer.  Gilles Labbe said he’s confident about retaining the existing work but said winning additional contracts will be “very difficult” if the federal government instead purchases a different aircraft ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (4) Harsh headline from a U.S. magazine:  “The Lemon Of The Skies”
• In other purchasing news, “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, …. announced a funding commitment of approximately $1.4 million towards the complete replacement and upgrade of the existing Hangars 11 and 14 Apron Lighting Systems at 14 Wing Greenwood …. The projects include the demolition and removal of all existing poles and their replacement with new poles to accommodate light fixtures capable of producing sufficient lighting to safely conduct aircraft maintenance. The contract for the Hangar 14 Apron Lighting Replacement project was awarded to Mid Valley Construction Limited of Kingston, Nova Scotia, for $361 000 and is expected to be completed in April 2013. The Apron Lighting Replacement project for Hangar 11 was awarded to Rikjak Construction Limited of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, for approximately $1.04 million and is expected to be completed by June 2013 ….”
• An overview of what might be wrong with Canada’s defence procurement system
• “The Department of National Defence has a requirement for the acquisition and in-service support of a Sniper Observation & Targeting System ….” - according to the bid documents (via Google Docs), there’s an “Industry Day” on this project scheduled for Gatineau, QC, Canada on 17 Jan 13.
  
• “…. The object of the contract is to provide NATO-Wide Secure Voice Services – Voice over Secure IP (SVoS/VoSIP) compliant with the NGCS Target Architecture and the NATO Secure Voice Strategy …. Potential Bidders: Must be from a participating NATO country. It is planned to place a single contract for the entire scope of the work. No partial bidding will be allowed. The successful bid, pursuant to the IFB following this NOI, will be the lowest price technically compliant in accordance with the evaluation criteria.  Delivery Date: The IFB is planned to be issued in February 2013, with a Bid Closing Date in April 2013 and contract award in third quarter of 2013.  Estimated Value: 2.4 Million EUROS ….”
• Wanted:  Someone “For the provision of, “as and when requested”, Food and Catering Services for the Department of National DEFENCE (DND) during operations in the Whitehorse YT area“

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