Contract for new Chinooks signed
Royal Netherlands Air Force CH-47D; Courtesy: The Boeing Company
Peter MacKay, the Minister for National Defence, has announced today that the Government of Canada has signed the long-awaited contract with Boeing for the acquisition of new CH-47F (Canadian Forces designation: CH-147F) Chinook medium-to-heavy lift helicopters for the Canadian Forces.
The contract, which consists of a $1.2 billion capital acquisition and a $2.2 billion 20-year support and maintenance element, was originally proposed in 2006, shortly after the current Conservative government was first elected. In the original proposal, 16 helicopters were to be procured; however, due to inflation and other factors in the approximately three years since the original proposal, this number has been reduced to 15.
The delivery of the first Chinook is expected in July 2013.
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August 10th, 2009 at 7:37 pmA major (i.e. $1+ billion) contract that was sole-sourced by DND has, after three years, managed to be awarded. There have and always will be critics of sole-sourcing a high-value contract such as this one, but the benefits are clear in this particular case. That said, sole-sourcing a high-value contract isn’t something that should be regularly done, as the public tender act is there for a reason.
Should be interesting to see the Opposition’s response to this!
The CH-147 Chinook: Canada’s “Future” Medium-Lift Helicopter | cdnmilitary.ca http://www.cdnmilitary.ca/?p=15
August 10th, 2009 at 8:29 pm[...] 10, 2009 Update: The Government of Canada has signed a contract with Boeing for the acquisition of 15 CH-47F Chinooks. The contract is valued at $1.2 billion for [...]