Proponents The Department of Public Works and Government Services issued a "Solicitation of Interest and Qualification" on 20 September 2010 and closed it on 8 October 2010. Five Canadian shipyards were short-listed to build the large vessels: •
Kiewit Offshore Services (major yard in
Marystown,
Newfoundland and Labrador) • Irving Shipbuilding (major yard in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia) •
Davie Yards Incorporated (major yard in
Lévis,
Quebec) •
Washington Marine Group (major yard in
Vancouver,
British Columbia) •
Seaway Marine and Industrial (major yard in
St. Catharines,
Ontario) 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 7 February 2011, and closed on 21 July 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, Davie Yards, underwent a corporate restructuring which was accepted by the NSS governance on 27 July 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 19 October 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. In 2012, the two companies negotiated the contracts for the first projects of each package. Construction started on the first ship in September 2015. The search for the two main subcontractors on Irving's Surface Combatant package began in June 2015. In 2017, the Government of Canada will make its choice for two main subcontractors; one for combat systems integration (gun, missile, radar, sonar, communications) and the other for the design of the ship. The list of those pre-qualified candidates which applied for the Surface Combatant subcontractor positions was released on 18 November 2015. In September 2015, reports emerged that climbing costs would lead to a reduction in the number of Surface Combatants the Canadian government would receive. Construction only started on the first Coast Guard ships in June 2015, leading to fears that the Joint Support Ships could be delayed. However, the new government also simultaneously committed itself to retaining the NSS. The first vessel constructed under the NSS, , was
launched at Seaspan's shipyard in
North Vancouver on 8 December 2017. On 5 February 2019, the Canadian government changed the build order of ships at the Seaspan yard, placing the construction of one of the planned naval replenishment ships ahead of the Coast Guard's oceanographic science vessel. The second supply vessel will still be constructed after the oceanographic science vessel is completed. In February 2021, a contract for the construction of Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel was finally awarded. However, the total costs were reported to be nearly $1 billion, a figure attracting considerable criticism. On 8 February 2019, Canada signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin Canada,
BAE Systems, Inc. and Irving Shipbuilding to design and construct the $60 billion
Canadian Surface Combatant (River-class destroyer) project.
Addition of a third shipyard In 2019, the Government of Canada decided to initiate a competition to add a third yard to the NSS. Widely rumored to end up being Davie Yards of Quebec, the yard appeared likely to specialize in medium, and possibly Polar, icebreakers for the Coast Guard. In December 2019 it was announced that only Davie Yards had qualified for the icebreaker work. The next step was to negotiate an umbrella agreement between the federal government and Davie Yards by the end of 2020. The umbrella agreement would formally add Davie as a third yard under the NSS. However, by the end of 2020 no progress had yet been reported. In May 2021, the Government announced that the conclusion of the envisaged umbrella agreement was now "expected to be in place in late 2021". It was also announced that, pending the conclusion of that agreement, Davie would build one polar icebreaker for the Coast Guard while the Seaspan yard would build another one. However, as of early January 2023 and consistent with the pattern of previous years, no further progress had been reported. The agreement to incorporate Davie as a third shipyard within the NSS was finally signed in April 2023. ==See also==