National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy

The National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy is a Government of Canada program operated by the Department of Public Works and Government Services.

The National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy was launched on June 3, 2010 and its results were made public October 19, 2011.

Work
The NSPS program was charged with selecting two Canadian shipyards to rebuild the fleets of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard through two separate packages of work (the projects), valued at $33 billion.


 * $25 billion for 23 combatant (warships) vessels to serve in the RCN
 * 8 vessels from the Arctic Patrol Ship Project
 * 15 vessels from the Single Class Surface Combatant Project


 * $8 billion for 8 non-combatant vessels to serve in the CCG and RCN
 * 3 vessels from the Joint Support Ship Project (for the RCN)
 * 1 vessel from the Polar Class Icebreaker Project (for the CCG)
 * 1 vessel from the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel Project (for the CCG)
 * 3 vessels from the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels Project (for the CCG)

Proponents
A "Solicitation of Interest and Qualification" was issued by the Department of Public Works and Government Services on September 20, 2010 and closed on October 8, 2010. Five Canadian shipyards were short-listed to build the large vessels:


 * Kiewit Offshore Services (major yard in Marystown, NL)
 * Irving Shipbuilding (major yard in Halifax, NS)
 * Davie Yards Incorporated (major yard in Levis, QC)
 * Washington Marine Group (major yard in Vancouver, BC)
 * Seaway Marine and Industrial (major yard in St. Catharines, ON)

Between October 2010 and January 2011, the short-listed shipyards were consulted on the content of the "Request for Proposals" (RFP), the umbrella agreements, the proposed schedule, and the evaluation methodology.

The RFP was released on February 7, 2011, and closed on July 21, 2011. Five proposals were received from three bidders:


 * Irving Shipbuilding Inc.
 * Seaspan Marine Corp. (renamed from Washington Marine Group in 2011)
 * Davie Yards Inc.

Two of the proposals received were for the combat work package and three were for the non-combat work package.

Evaluation
An evaluation organization composed of Canadian Forces and Canadian Coast Guard personnel, as well as public servants from the departments involved (Public Works and Government Services Canada, Industry Canada, National Defence, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada) evaluated the proposals. An independent fairness monitor oversaw the process. The shipyards were evaluated on a combination of mandatory and rated requirements.

During the final evaluation period, one of the proponents underwent a corporate restructuring which was accepted by the NSPS governance on July 27, 2011:


 * Davie Yards Inc. was changed to 7731299 Canada Incorporated which was a consortium between Davie Yards Incorporated, Seaway Marine and Industrial and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Result
On October 19, 2011 the Government of Canada selected Irving Shipbuilding Inc. for the $25 billion combat work package and Seaspan Marine Corp. for the $8 billion non-combat work package.