The Canadian government and Irving Shipbuilding announced they are extending the submission deadline by which interested shipbuilders are to submit their design bids for the Canadian Surface Combatant fleet.
This is the third time the request for proposal deadline is being postponed; this time to November 30, 2017.
The original deadline was set for April 27, 2017.
The decision to once again postpone the deadline was made in order to simplify the submission requirements and to allow bidders “to demonstrate the full potential of their proposed solution to satisfy Canada’s requirements. These amendments have maintained the requirements of the Royal Canadian Navy.”
Despite delays in RFP deadlines, the Canadian government says the the procurement process is scheduled to conclude by 2018 while the ships are expected to start construction in early 2020s.
Irving Shipbuilding, the prime contractor for the project, will be building up to 15 ships based on the winning design.
The Canadian Surface Combatant project will replace Canada’s aging Iroquois-class destroyers and Halifax-class frigates.