Tribunal dismisses U.S. complaint about warship competition

OTTAWA (CP) — A federal trade tribunal has dismissed a challenge to the federal government’s handling of a high-stakes competition to design the navy’s new $60-billion fleet of warships.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal’s ruling removes one potential obstacle as Ottawa prepares to award the lucrative warship-design contract to U.S.-based defence giant Lockheed Martin.

The government and Irving Shipbuilding, which will build the warships, selected Lockheed’s proposal as the preferred design in October over submissions from Alion Science and Technology of Virginia and Spanish firm Navantia.

Alion subsequently filed complaints with the trade tribunal as well as the Federal Court, saying Lockheed’s design did not meet the navy’s requirements and should have been disqualified.

But in a ruling issued on Thursday, the trade tribunal said neither Alion nor its Canadian subsidiary “have standing to file a complaint” and that it was throwing the case out.

While the tribunal has 15 days to provide its reasons for the decision, the government and Irving had argued the challenge should be rejected because Alion is not a Canadian company, which is a requirement for asking the tribunal to consider a complaint.

Alion’s challenge was formally filed by its Canadian subsidiary, but the government and Irving said the subsidiary was never qualified to be a bidder in the competition — only its American parent was.