Cormorant problems and poor maintenance contracting

How do messes like this come about? Is the contractor, IMP, up to the job (it's got the maintenance contract under both Liberals and Conservatives)? David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen reports:

The government has had difficulty enforcing the provisions of a $184-million maintenance contract for the military's Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters, a situation that has resulted in the choppers being grounded because of a lack of parts.

The procurement of the 15 choppers [by the Chretien government in 1998] was flawed and there is confusion over who is responsible for supplying parts as well as dealing with other maintenance issues, according to a newly released Department of National Defence review.

That has meant the Defence Department "finds itself disadvantaged in trying to enforce a number of contract clauses related to the performance of the contractor providing the (in-service support)," the review added.

"The procurement concept impeded the establishment of clear and enforceable accountability between the main supplier and the ISS contractor," according to the review.

European aerospace firm Agusta-Westland supplied the Cormorants, the air force's main search-and-rescue chopper. The contract for in-service support, known as ISS, was awarded to IMP of Halifax.

In September, Defence Minister Peter MacKay renewed IMP's contract to provide in-service support to the Cormorants, praising the firm for its efforts. "For the past seven years, IMP Group's Aerospace Division has provided the right level of service support for our Cormorants," he said at the time.

The lack of parts for the Cormorants as well as various other maintenance issues have been an ongoing issue since 2004. Air force personnel have repeatedly said they are dealing with the problem.

But in December, the lack of parts sidelined most of the Cormorants on the West Coast, forcing maintenance crews to scavenge components from other choppers. At one point, Canadian Forces Base Comox, B.C., had only one working Cormorant. Aircraft from the base handle search and rescue on the West Coast and in the Rocky Mountains.

IMP officials did not respond to a request for comment. But Jeremy Tracy of Agusta-Westland said while the Defence Department report is accurate, it reflects earlier issues with the helicopter purchase.

He said Agusta-Westland is putting in place a series of measures to ensure the availability of the Cormorants is improved.

While there have been no changes in the contract, Mr. Tracy said the Defence Department, IMP and Agusta-Westland are co-operating with each other more closely to deal with the issues brought out in the report.

He said the helicopter is performing exceptionally well on search-and-rescue missions.

Defence Department officials could not provide comment about the review.

The review noted that the in-service support contract was linked to having the helicopters available, but the contract did not stipulate standards for aircraft performance or include details about the future cost of spare parts or the timely availability of parts. As a result, the operational availability of the helicopters was limited.

"The acquisition contract did not provide adequate consideration for the provisioning of spares," it concluded.