TSAMTO, December 3. On December 1, the Government of Canada officially announced that, based on the results of the evaluation of the submitted proposals, two applicants will continue to participate in the tender for the supply of new fighters for the country's Air Force.
As part of the implementation of the Future Fighter Capability Project, they were the Government of Sweden, which offered Gripen E aircraft on behalf of a consortium of companies Saab, Diehl Defense GmbH, MBDA UK, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., and the US government with the F-35A Lightning-2 fighter unit developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company.4.
Thus, Boeing Corporation, which offered the F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet" fighters, dropped out of the competition.
In the coming weeks, the Government of Canada will determine how the procurement process will proceed further: whether it will begin final negotiations with the bidder who took the first place, or begin a competitive dialogue with the remaining two bidders and give them the opportunity to improve their proposals.
As reported by TSAMTO, the Ministry of Public Services and Procurement of Canada (Public Service and Procurement Canada – PSPC) on July 23, 2019 sent requests for proposals for the supply of 88 new combat aircraft designed to replace the F/A-18 Hornet (national designation CF-18/CF-188) in service. Invitations were received by the authorities of Sweden (Saab with Gripen E), Great Britain (Airbus, instead of BAE Systems, because of the company's share in the Canadian Bombardier) and the USA (Lockheed Martin with F-35 Lightning-2 and Boeing with F/A-18E/F Super Hornet). The cost of the purchase is estimated at 15-19 billion. canad. (11.7-14.8 billion US dollars at the current exchange rate).
During the competition, Airbus Defence and Space GmbH refused to participate in it. The three remaining companies submitted their final proposals at the end of July 2020, after which they underwent a comprehensive assessment taking into account the criteria of "tactical and technical characteristics" (60%), "cost of each aircraft" (20%) and "economic benefits for Canadian defense contractors" (20%).
The Government of Canada plans to choose the winner and conclude a contract with him in 2022, and the delivery of aircraft should begin in 2025.
