Value of €500m rescue services deal questioned

Steyr

Value of €500m rescue services deal questioned
Helicopter firm embroiled in UK bidding row


By DON LAVERY Exclusive

Sunday February 13 2011

A controversial €500m contract for search-and-rescue services signed by former Transport Minister Noel Dempsey should be investigated by the incoming government, a Fine Gael TD urged yesterday.

Education spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said the new contract for the Irish Coast Guard would cost €150m more than the existing contract over 10 years.

"I will insist that this matter be fully and thoroughly investigated," Mr O'Dowd said yesterday.

He said the contract should be at the top of any new government's agenda to see whether it represents value for money over 10 years and to investigate whether the service could be provided more cheaply.

Last July, Mr Dempsey signed the contract with CHC Ireland (CHCI), which is due to start in July next year and run for 10 years, with an option to extend for a further three years on a year-by-year basis.

The service will see a new generation helicopter, the Sikorsky S-92, used to replace the existing fleet of Sikorsky S-61s, some of which are 40 years old.

CHCI is to provide four helicopters at Waterford, Shannon, Sligo and Dublin in the lease contract up to 2022, with a back-up helicopter.

It is believed the fleet will involve one new S-92 and four second-hand machines used in Britain.

Mr O'Dowd got documents under the Freedom of Information Act, which revealed that the head of the Irish Coast Guard claimed there would be no cost savings if the service was carried out by the Irish Air Corps and they were not equipped for the role.

However, this has been disputed by Agusta Westland, which manufactures the main helicopter used by the Air Corps, the AW139, and by former Air Corps personnel who said the Defence Forces should have been given an opportunity to tender.

The Air Corps withdrew from limited search-and-rescue duties in 2004.

Meanwhile, the Canadian company CHC has been part of a consortium offering search-and-rescue services in Britain in a £6bn (€7bn) contract that has run into trouble.

The UK has abandoned the procurement process as military police investigate how information relating to the bid process fell into the hands of the preferred bidder, a consortium called Soteria, which includes CHC, Sikorsky and French defence group Thales.

Philip Hammond, Britain's secretary of state for transport, said in a statement that Soteria had informed the government in December of irregularities concerning the conduct of their bid team.

Irregularities included access by CHC Helicopter to commercially sensitive information regarding official evaluations of bids, he said, and evidence that a former member of the government's project team had assisted the consortium in preparing its bid.

CHC said: "In November of last year, CHC became aware that a small number of its employees acting without its knowledge or authorisation of the company's senior management may have violated the company's high standard of ethics during its participation in the competitive bid process.

"As soon as CHC became aware of the perceived irregularities it upheld those standards by immediately informing the British government, and co-operating fully with the government," it added.

The consortium had been due to take over search-and-rescue for 25 years from 2012 in the UK.

However the Department of Transport here said the €500m Irish contract with CHC would not be affected by the British move.

The department said the contract with CHC had been concluded and signed, and the first installment had been paid "as per its terms".

This is understood to involve a payment of around €19m to CHC.

- DON LAVERY Exclusive

Sunday Independent

balkanhawk

Very interesting.

savagecabbages

the Defence Forces should have been given an opportunity to tender.

Were the DF not given an opportunity to tender? Surely this was put to public tender, and it was common knowledge the previous contract was coming to an end.

If there were irregularities in the process then fair enough theres something needs to be investigated!

sunshinediver

An S92 is a far more capable machine than the AW, especially given its range.

Klunk001

Very, very interesting. Been discussed on another BB.

FG queries €500m helicopter agreement



LORNA SIGGINS, Marine Correspondent



FINE GAEL TD Fergus O’Dowd says he will be seeking a review of the State’s €500 million contract for search-and-rescue helicopters if his party is elected to government.
The party education spokesman and former transport spokesman said he was concerned about the cost of the contract and had raised this with former minister for transport Noel Dempsey and officials before it was signed last year.
He also said there appeared to be “significant questions to answer” in the light of recent developments in Britain involving Soteria, the consortium which secured the Irish contract.
Last week, Britain’s secretary of state for transport, Philip Hammond, halted a £6 billion (€7 billion) privatisation of the search- and-rescue helicopter services there. Mr Hammond said Soteria – the consortium which won the contract to replace more than 40 helicopters run by the British military and maritime and coast guard agency with new Sikorsky aircraft – had informed the government of “irregularities” in the conduct of its bid team.
Mr Hammond said the irregularities included access by one of the consortium members, CHC Helicopters, to commercially sensitive data relating to bids. British military police have been investigating how the information came to be in the possession of the company.
CHC Ireland said last week that the British situation would not affect the new contract which it concluded as part of Soteria with Mr Dempsey last July.
The contract will involve replacing ageing Sikorsky S-61 helicopters flown by CHC for the Irish Coast Guard with one new and four second-hand Sikorsky S-92 helicopters.
The used Sikorsky S-92s are in Scotland and the transfer to Ireland was tied into the British privatisation contract with Soteria.
The Department of Transport said it had been told by CHC that it remained “committed” to delivery of the S-92 aircraft for “search and rescue in Ireland by 2013”. A new S-92A due for delivery to Shannon in December this year is being built in the US, it said.

Documentation obtained by Mr O’Dowd under the Freedom of Information Act indicates that there were two principal contenders for the new contract – CHC and Bristows – and that consultants Consultavia Ltd advised that a number of companies be invited to tender.

It is understood that seven companies issued expressions of interest and were given tender documents. The Chief State’s Solicitor’s Office was represented on the Government’s negotiating group.

The documentation shows that the Department of Defence ruled the Air Corps out as a contender at a future helicopter study group meeting in July 2008, as its AW139 helicopters were not equipped for search and rescue and it had “no aspirations” towards a national role in this area.

The Air Corps was withdrawn from search and rescue by former minister for defence Michael Smith in 2004.
Two years before that, the government cancelled a contract to buy as many as five helicopters from Sikorsky for the Air Corps when rival bidder Eurocopter took a High Court action which was subsequently settled.



I have high lighted the important bit. Now, as I understand it the IAC could have put themselves forward at the time and have become number eight in relation to parties interestest to bid on the tender. It now looks like their bosses in the Army had other ideas for them. It nice to get a bit of clarity on these things, As they say there are two sides to every story.

Not only were various departments, (more than just transport) involved the AG was there to give advice to the Government. It now starting to looks gin clear that some people with certain connections were going on a solo run. :eek:

Makes you wonder why an investigation would be required


Intersting the last paragraph mentions the canx of the 5 92's for the IAC many moons ago. Is it a case of spitting the dummy out of the pram because now it's the IRCG who will be getting the 5 92's. Just a thought.:rolleyes:

tricky D

It's cheap political propaganda. Half a billion sounds stupidly high, but when the proper anaylsis is carried out it makes good sense. Over 10 years, availability, range, functionality, capacity etc. all considered makes it very good value. The IAC are not interested and speaking as someone overlooking the sea and Howth harbour and who witnesses shed loads of SAR activity, the current set up is by far the best. All fishermen, sailors, rescue personnel who I have spoken to on this agree.

996tt

Isnt the the reason that the air cops lost this contract in the first place years ago not due to their incompetence, they took the contract for granted and they ran it really inefficiently(wages, holidays, sickleave etc).

From a goverment finances point of view they are better to contract it out, who needs the hassel