CF-18 upgrades: Oh dear

It's a hell of a system when military procurement has to be re-competed in court; the government would seem have been a bit slap-dash (see the latter part of this superb post of Babbling's):

Canada's bid to equip its CF-18 fighter jets with laser-guided, smart-bomb technology has been dealt another setback.

The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled Public Works has no choice but to comply with an international trade ruling that ordered the $180-million project restarted after two losing bidders complained the work may have been improperly awarded.

Federal lawyers attempted to block the Canadian International Trade Tribunal by arguing the agency's recommendations are not binding and the department has the option of ignoring them.

In an Oct. 26 written decision - released yesterday- the court disagreed and told the department that if it wants to challenge the agency's ruling it will have to apply directly to have the tribunal's decision set aside.

Public Works cannot "ignore the recommendations made by the [tribunal] altogether solely because it disagrees with the decision," the court ruled.

Last spring, Public Works awarded a contract to outfit the jet fighters with Advanced Multi-Role Infrared Sensor systems to U.S. aircraft giant Lockheed Martin.

Immediately after the contract was awarded, two competitors complained. Raytheon Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. say they each submitted lower bids for the project.

Two Cold Lake, Alta.-based CF-18s have already been equipped with the Lockheed Martin system.

Both Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have similar systems already operating on variants of the CF-18 in other countries. Lockheed Martin does not.