In the wake of this week’s decision by Ottawa to continue with a direct- awarded contract to a Quebec shipyard, we’ll be watching to see if the new Liberal government follows through on ensuring this is not how they’ll be doing business in the future.
Perhaps the decision to go forward with the contract isn’t surprising, given that the deal was already signed and work had begun by the time the Liberals took office.
Conveniently, those in the Conservative government responsible for changing rules around handing out of military contracts are no longer around to answer for those decisions.
When both Seaspan and Irving shipyards recently protested the lack of a competitive process, they were seen as maybe a little mean in some quarters. Davie, after all, had been the biggest loser in the massive national shipbuilding bidding process which saw both Seaspan and Irving as big winners. Why are they complaining, was the implied question.
But the principle of fair competition for large government contracts is one that’s worth paying attention to.
And a situation where rules are changed to allow a direct award that gets signed in the middle of an election doesn’t pass the smell test.
There are good reasons large government contracts shouldn’t be direct awarded. It leaves decisions about who gets what open to political interference and kickbacks to supporters a distinct possibility. It rarely results in the best deal for taxpayers.
Ottawa has plenty of past experience with this in the bad old days – enough to know that it doesn’t bear repeating.
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