Sure, and I appreciate all of your work in this area, too. I know how important it is to your community.
Let me just say a couple of things about industrial and regional benefits policy. It requires that if companies win a contract, they have to invest in the Canadian economy, dollar for dollar, when procuring military equipment and services. That's what the IRB policy means.
That means for Canada that we get the commitment that there will be high-quality, lasting economic activities in advanced technology sectors right here at home. Basically it's our way of ensuring that the Canadian economy benefits from all these defence procurements that run into the billions of dollars, as we all know. So, yes, the military must get the best equipment that they need, but there have to be real benefits for the Canadian economy at the same time.
In the case of Navistar, as you probably know, it was the only bidder to submit a proposal for the MilCOTS. Their proposal was evaluated by the Department of by National Defence in terms of the technical aspects, and Public Works looks at the financial side and Industry Canada looks at the IRBs, the industrial and regional benefits side. They met all those requirements, so the package they signed on to will provide economic benefits of 100% of the contracted value of $274 million. That's what Canada gets out of it.
Over time, in different parts of the country, there will be announcements by the successful bidder on what that exactly means. And then, of course, we hold them to their contractual obligations.