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DPRTE Focus: Commerce Decisions supports Canada’s Future Fighter Capability project

Air February 4, 2021

As part of our build up to DPRTE 2021, Defence Online is highlighting a case study from official DPRTE Gold sponsors, Commerce Decisions on its involvement in Canada’s Future Fighter Capability project.

Project Profile overview

The Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) competition was initiated by Canada to acquire a new fleet of advanced fighter jets. The requirement was outlined in Canada’s defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, to enforce Canada’s sovereignty and to meet Canada’s North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) commitments. The FFCP marks the most significant investment in the Royal Canadian Air Force in more than 30 years.

Introduction to the FFCP

Purchasing a fleet of fighter aircraft through a transparent competition while also delivering value for money is a complex process with many variables. The balancing of cost, technical requirements and economic benefits with such a procurement is no easy task. The project has an estimated value of CAD $15-19 billion, and in addition to the purchase of 88 advanced fighter aircraft also includes the procurement of associated equipment and weapons, and the set up of training and sustainment services.

Customer profile

The Future Fighter Capability Project is a multi departmental initiative involving the Department of National Defence (DND), Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).

Why FFCP needed our assistance

The successful acquisition of a new fighter aircraft is of critical importance for the Government of Canada. A modern fighter jet fleet is essential for defending Canadian sovereignty, enabling continental security, and contributing to international peace and security. This procurement also represents a once in a generation opportunity to create jobs and generate benefits for Canadians.

Through this competition, the Government wants to ensure that it gets the right aircraft, at the right price, while maximising economic benefits for Canadians. Throughout the process, all stakeholders participating in the procurement, including foreign governments, the fighter aircraft manufacturers, and Canadian aerospace and defence industries and manufacturers, were consulted and fully engaged.

Proposals submitted by bidders in response to a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) are rigorously assessed on cost, technical requirements and economic benefits. All bidders proposals are subject to the same evaluation criteria. Given the complex nature of these acquisitions, and the need for an open, fair and transparent competition, having an evaluation process that is underpinned by robust analysis is of paramount importance. That is where Commerce Decisions came in.

Steve Deaville, Managing Director, Commerce Decisions, said: “We are delighted that DND has selected Commerce Decisions to support this key Canadian project, enabling Canadian government and industry to benefit from expert procurement advice through the application of our best practice advice and thought leadership”. 

In May 2018, Commerce Decisions were awarded a contract to support the FFCP in the development of the proposal evaluation process via a Task and Solutions Professional Services (TSPS) Supply Arrangement. We added value and support by:

• Assisting the Project staff in developing the Bid Evaluation Plan for the competitive procurement process

• Supporting PSPC in its oversight role of the solicitation processes to ensure alignment with the competition risks identified, and provision of decision support data to ensure and unbiased approach

• Providing two senior procurement specialists to support the Project in the development of evaluation criteria (scoring methods, weights, etc), including review/design inputs to the more complex areas

• Assisting the Project in developing a new Life Cycle Cost (LCC) evaluation methodology, designed to measure the confidence in the cost estimates provided by bidders based on the level of information supplied, supplier risks, and risk transferred to Canada

• Providing decision support to Project leadership, through a robust analytical “assurance” process (Sensitivity Analysis), to enable an alignment between the evaluation process and overall Government of Canada procurement objectives

• Providing AWARD® Dataroom for managing engagement and communications with eligible suppliers, including clarifications management, the release of the draft and final RFP materials and requests for information in a secure, fully audited and effective interactive environment, and

• Supporting the Project through the draft RFP phase, by providing analysis to validate required changes to the RFP prior to formal release.

Via this support Commerce Decisions helped the FFCP achieve:

✓ Development of criteria scoring and weighting using robust and unbiased analytical methodologies

✓ Risk capture and confirmation of appropriate coverage in the evaluation scheme/process

✓ Assurance and testing of the criteria, weights and scoring systems to ensure that the behaviours of the model were fully understood by Canada and aligned with Canada’s needs for the competition

✓ Rationale for all key evaluation design decisions taken in support of approvals and review prior to RFP issue

✓ A robust bid evaluation strategy, guidelines and plans

✓ An auditable, controlled and streamlined mechanism for gathering and publishing all project information for suppliers

✓ Secure storage and resilient sharing of data to protect data for all stakeholders

✓ The development of an AWARD® evaluation module to support the secure and auditable recording of the evaluation process.

What’s next?

In July 2020, the FFCP eligible suppliers submitted proposals to Canada, in response to the Request for Proposals (RFP) released in July 2019. Canada is in the process of evaluating these proposals on the basis of the evaluation criteria developed, and documented in the formal RFP. This will lead to the selection by Canada of a preferred supplier for the delivery of the new fighter capability.

image courtesy of Commerce Decisions

Commerce Decisions is an official Gold Sponsor of DPRTE 2021

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Post written by: Matt Brown