Government Operations committee  We are in negotiations with the preferred bidder as part of the conditions precedent phase.

Government Operations committee  One of the bidders filed a procurement review complaint to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal on November 21. The tribunal has decided to inquire into the complaint, and it also issued an order to postpone the award of the contract.

Government Operations committee  It's a postponement of the award of the contract. The negotiations are ongoing. Maybe Michael can add to that.

Government Operations committee  Much like the defence policy, “Strong, Secure, Engaged”, which sets a path for the future capabilities of the Canadian Armed Forces, that was not part of the national shipbuilding strategy per se. Obviously, when the NSS was announced, there was a program of work that was also es

Government Operations committee  I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble hearing you.

Government Operations committee  As we have gone through the national shipbuilding strategy implementation over the last several years, we've relied quite a bit on external advice, third party advice from different firms, whether it's on costing or scheduling, or even on some of the formulation of the project. W

Government Operations committee  Let me go back again to where we are at with the solicitation process for the Canadian surface combatant. As I said, in October we did announce the preferred bidder, which triggered what we call the conditions precedent phase. We are negotiating with the preferred bidder on intel

Government Operations committee  Assuming that all goes well as we continue with the negotiations this month, we can be in a position potentially early next year to have a contracted award for the design of the ship. Obviously, the outcome of the award is conditional on the negotiations. If the negotiations turn

Government Operations committee  This would have to be asked of the Coast Guard. Again, those are some of the decisions that are made for these kinds of capabilities.

Government Operations committee  As I said earlier, we have selected a preferred bidder as part of the consultation process—

Government Operations committee  Fundamentally, the requirements of the navy were established, and the procurement process was built on meeting those requirements. I think it's fair to say that any warship or Canadian surface combatant we select will require some sort of work done to it. There was—

Government Operations committee  There was a threshold established for the level of maturity the design would have to have to be deemed acceptable, and that was established early on, as you said, in 2016.

Government Operations committee  Again, this is procurement that's still in process. We have not landed yet on the final decision. We are in negotiations with our preferred bidders. I need to make a caveat before I talk further about it.

Government Operations committee  The costing was re-baselined as part of “Strong, Secure, Engaged” last year.

Government Operations committee  The frigates budget was re-baselined as part of “Strong, Secure, Engaged” last year, when the government announced the acquisition of 15 surface combatants. There has been some work done as part of that costing to take into account the uncertainty of which design would be selecte