The Liberal government is facing a new challenge over a decision to award an Irving company the contract to provide emergency ship towing services on the West Coast as part of its plan to protect the country’s oceans.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has started a second inquiry into the government’s procurement process that awarded the $67-million contract to the Irving company Atlantic Towing. A rival bidder has questioned the ability of those ships to do the job.
In January 2019, the CITT concluded that, “trade agreements were breached when (Procurement Canada) unreasonably concluded that (Atlantic Towing’s) bid was compliant” with the minimum towing requirements. The government’s evaluation of the Atlantic Towing bid was based on an assumption about the towing capabilities of the company’s ships, the CITT noted. Making such an assumption was “not only a serious breach of trade agreements but a serious deficiency as well,” the trade tribunal concluded.
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