On Wednesday afternoon, just minutes before final bids from private corporations were due, the federal government unexpectedly cancelled the process to replace the Canadian Army’s fleet of trucks with 2,300 new vehicles. In a statement sent out to the interested companies, the government claimed that, “Economic, marketplace and budgetary circumstances have changed since this solicitation process began. Therefore, the government of Canada needs to reassess this procurement to ensure that the right equipment is acquired for the army at the best value for Canada, prior to proceeding with a new solicitation.”
No kidding. Of course economic, marketplace and budgetary circumstances have changed since the process began: It began six years ago. And in all that time, the Conservative government has still not been able to get its act together sufficiently to accept bids from companies interested in addressing the Army’s need for new vehicles, a need that both the military and the government agree is real.
Yes, indeed. Another proud chapter in Canadian military procurement history, brought to you by your troop-supporting Tories.
Army trucks are not glamorous. They don’t have the sex appeal of a sleek new fighter jet or a deadly tank, and certainly aren’t as impressive as a giant transport plane or a new Navy warship. But they are absolutely vital. Trucks form the backbone of any military operation, at home or abroad. They move soldiers quickly to where they need to be, keep them supplied once they’re there, and can be instrumental in delivering desperately needed humanitarian aid to disaster areas in Canada or elsewhere. A modern military simply doesn’t function without trucks.
The Canadian Army has trucks. But the current version, the MLVW (Medium Logistics Vehicle Wheeled), first entered Canadian service in 1982, 30 years ago. These vehicles are aging, suffering from brake problems and are simply worn out. The Defence Department called replacing these trucks an urgent priority six years ago, when the Conservatives first announced that replacements would be ordered. They haven’t gotten any younger since. The aging of these trucks not only hurts their reliability, it adds to their costs. That’s unacceptable.
And yet, for the second time, the government has cancelled the process to replace them. Last November, the government claimed that it needed to “further refine’ the specifications for the trucks, and it was that refined competition for the contract that was supposed to have begun on Wednesday. No such luck for the Army, sadly, which will continue to use its 30-year-old trucks while the government, yet again, resets the entire program.
Military procurement is always complicated. Equipment intended to be used in combat environments, when lives are on the line, must always be built to a high standard. And military equipment must also be compatible with existing military technologies, able to fit inside the military’s existing ships and aircraft for transportation, and be adaptable to the wide variety of geographic environments that the Canadian military is required to operate in. It’s not surprising when military equipment purchases run over time and budget — frustrating and expensive, but not surprising.
But it is certainly surprising that, unlike with Canada’s balky submarines or chronically delayed Navy helicopters, the blame for these delays cannot be laid at the feet of anyone else but the federal government. If a contractor goes overbudget on a program, even though the government picks up the tab, it’s not the government’s fault, per se. That’s why modern military procurement contracts include provisions for fining the companies for cost overruns to delivery delays. But the government has no such excuse here. The equipment hasn’t even been ordered yet, six years apparently not being enough time to pick a truck.
For that, the responsibility must rest with the government. The Harper Tories have long talked a good game about supporting the troops and rebuilding Canada’s military, and in some significant ways, have lived up to their own boasts. But the Army’s trucks are just the latest example of long-identified needs for new military equipment going unfilled because Ottawa can’t effectively organize a competition and select a winner. As much as our soldiers must appreciate the admiration the government has so publicly expressed for their hard work, they’d probably appreciate a truck with reliable brakes that much more.
National Post
