Budget officer not allowed to see bids of winning shipbuilders
Government awarded nearly $33 billion in new contracts
OTTAWA — The federal government has refused to give Parliament’s budgetary watchdog copies of the bids that ultimately won nearly $33 billion worth of work for shipyards in Halifax and Vancouver under the government’s national shipbuilding strategy.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page had requested the bids submitted by Vancouver’s Seaspan Marine and Halifax’s Irving Shipbuilding as part of a study into one of the massive National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy’s key projects. The Davie Shipyard in Lévis had failed in its initial bid for the work.
The PBO is examining the financial implications of the federal government’s plan to have Seaspan build two to three new resupply ships for $2.6 billion. It is planning to do a similar examination of the six and eight armed Arctic vessels to be built by Irving for $3.1 billion. Both projects have encountered problems that have threatened production schedules and the capabilities that can be built in with the money set aside by the government.
Public Works has provided PBO with some information related to the national shipbuilding strategy, including a number of agreements and reports related to Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards for the resupply ship study. But when Page wrote to Public Works deputy minister Michelle d’Auray on Nov. 19 asking for both winning bids, the request was rejected.
In a letter to Page dated Dec. 3, d’Auray indicated the winning bids were not relevant to the PBO study because they “do not stipulate awarding contracts, and the bidders were not asked to submit cost estimates for any of the vessels.”
The Public Works official said officials would be made available to provide briefings if necessary.
The PBO says it’s difficult to tell whether not having the winning bids will affect its findings on the resupply ship program, or the Arctic vessel program after it.
The report on the resupply ships, formally known as Joint Support Ships, is expected early in 2013.
This isn’t the first time the watchdog has encountered resistance from the federal government.
The PBO famously engaged in a battle with National Defence after the latter refused to co-operate with a PBO study into the F-35 stealth fighter. The PBO eventually estimated the fighter program would cost about $30 billion, a figure National Defence vehemently rejected.
Reports this week have suggested that an independent assessment of the F-35 program by auditing firm KPMG has put the cost between $30 billion and $40 billion.