National Post

UNIONS WAGE WAR ON SHIP STRATEGY

Claim private firms a threat to public security

- David Pugliese

The Liberal government’s new defence plan potentiall­y compromise­s national security by relying too much on private contractor­s to maintain the country’s new warships, public service unions have warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The unions are concerned companies will hold too much control over the proprietar­y rights to equipment on board the ships, limiting what defence department workers and Canadian military personnel can do to maintain the vessels and their systems.

The Liberal government has already encountere­d that problem. In April it quietly cancelled a tender for a maintenanc­e support contract for the upgraded Halifax- class warships because of concerns over intellectu­al property rights for the onboard equipment. It has yet to determine how to proceed in that situation.

The June 23 letter to Trudeau from the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Union of National Defence Employees comes as the Liberals prepare to award a $ 5.2- billion maintenanc­e contract. That deal would see a Canadian subsidiary of a French defence firm Thales become responsibl­e for the maintenanc­e on the navy’s new Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships as well as its new supply vessels.

But the unions are telling Trudeau that the deal, and future ones like it, could prove to be a disaster, similar to the problem- plagued Phoenix federal pay system.

“As we have learned with expensive public contracts like Phoenix, mismanaged contacts can have significan­t adverse effects both on the department as well as the broader public service,” Robyn Benson, president of PSAC and John MacLennan, head of UNDE, wrote to Trudeau.

“Within DND, this is compounded by the potential compromisi­ng of our national security apparatus by private industry and clear security risks in under- investing in our own core capabiliti­es,” Benson and MacLennan wrote.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediatel­y respond to a request for comment.

The unions are worried that once private contractor­s take on significan­t roles in maintainin­g the ships, the knowledge and skills built up over the decades among the federal workforce will gradually decrease. That, in turn, will prompt the government to hire more contractor­s.

Military staff and federal workers will also be limited in what they can do because of the maintenanc­e deals with private firms. “We won’t be able to touch the new equipment,” MacLennan said in an interview. “The companies will own all the intellectu­al property.”

The federal government was earlier warned by DND that its strategy of having one firm in charge of maintenanc­e for both the supply ships and Arctic patrol vessels could cost taxpayers more money in the long run, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen.

Selecting one company for a single in- service support ( ISS) contract covering two types of ships could give one firm too much control, warned an April 2012 DND briefing note for then-deputy minister Robert Fonberg. “A single ISS provider may assume a ‘ take it or leave it’ attitude at the time of contract option renewal, forcing prices up,” the briefing stated.

A dispute with the contractor could also force the Royal Canadian Navy to resort to conducting maintenanc­e and support for the ships on a piecemeal basis, a developmen­t that would affect its operations, added the briefing note.

The Liberals’ new defence policy puts more emphasis on relying on private contractor­s. But the union chiefs say in their letter to Trudeau that such reliance “can undermine financial transparen­cy as industry books are not available to the Auditor General, the Parliament­ary Budget Officer, Parliament nor the public through Access to Informatio­n requests.”

 ?? IRVING SHIPBUILDI­NG INC. ?? The second keel unit of the first Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship is moved into place at Irving Shipbuildi­ng ín Halifax.
IRVING SHIPBUILDI­NG INC. The second keel unit of the first Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship is moved into place at Irving Shipbuildi­ng ín Halifax.

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