Government Operations committee  Yes, because this is a long-term program with assumptions about inflation and escalation. Material costs will not be just what they are today. We're not buying all those things today. They are projected over time, using data that the government wishes us to use so that they are consistent with their other cost projections.

Government Operations committee  For the construction of the vessels, we have no contract at the moment. There's an umbrella agreement that describes our role, but we have no contract with a fee or a figure or a cost. That's still in the future. It's to be negotiated. As part of that, obviously there will be a discussion around costs and fees, but we're not at that point yet.

Government Operations committee  No, I don't recognize that number exactly. That's for what?

Government Operations committee  The design is still ongoing, sir. It's not complete. There's a whole range of activities under the design contract. It's not just to design the vessel but to design the program, lay out the future plans—

Government Operations committee  The work isn't finished. There's an ongoing discussion with the government as we work our way through this. I don't recognize the $800 million number.

Government Operations committee  Irving is the prime contractor for the vessel and is responsible for all of the industry participants, including Lockheed Martin and BAE and all those others. However, we work closely with the government, and most of the key decisions are collaborative activities. Though the final decision rests with Canada, we bring recommendations and solutions, and decisions are made with Canada.

Government Operations committee  As my colleague Mr. Mooney said earlier, we provide a quarterly update to government through a shared-cost model of our scope, but our scope does not constitute the total scope of the CSC program. CSC is the acquisition of a total defence capability, and not just the provision of ships and the combat systems within them.

Government Operations committee  Yes. The government provides the ammunition for the vessel, the training, the infrastructure to operate the vessel, so there's a lot more than just—

Government Operations committee  No, that's our side.

Government Operations committee  We provide regular costs to the government. What they add onto those—what is additional to those to provide the estimates they formally provide—is in the order of $60 billion, which they have provided publicly. Our number is below that number, and the difference is reasonable enough to believe that it is a credible number.

Government Operations committee  Yes. Irving assisted in the procurement process, but the requirements, the capabilities expected, the overall scoring and the expectations and decisions that came from it were all made by Canada. Irving was there to facilitate, support and provide advice if asked, but all the issues were Canada's decisions.

Government Operations committee  It's a very difficult question to answer, because no FREMM design was offered through the competitive process. There was only an unsolicited bid through Fincantieri, which, as they said last week, didn't meet the requirements that Canada had laid out. It wasn't compliant and it was offered outside of that process.

Government Operations committee  There was no imposition from the company on Canada, as I said. Canada set the requirements, the capability and the expectations, and the decision lay with Canada. Type 26, modified to meet the needs of CSC, was the successful bidder through the competitive process activity.