Canadian Patrol Frigate Project

The Canadian Patrol Frigate Project (CPFP) was a procurement project undertaken by the Department of National Defence of Canada beginning in 1975 to find a replacement for the 20 combined ships of the Annapolis, Mackenzie, Restigouche, and St. Laurent classes of destroyer escorts.

[4] In December 1977, the Canadian Patrol Frigate Project was authorized as part of the Ship Replacement Program.

The project team spent the next few years finding ways to keep the original requirements while cutting costs.

The costs were exacerbated by the requirement that the ships be built in Canada, which had political benefits for the Trudeau government that had authorized the program.

[6] A helicopter replacement program for the CH-124 Sea King was initially tied to the CPFP, but that procurement project was later delayed.

In order to compete, SCAN Marine lowered its bid to match that of Saint John Shipbuilding within 24 hours.

This led to the Treasury Board declaring SCAN Marine's bid non-compliant, leaving Saint John Shipbuilding as the sole remaining entry.

To resolve the situation, the Tribal Refit and Update Modernisation Program (TRUMP) for the Iroquois-class destroyers was tied to the CPFP.

The company that was awarded the contract to design the vessels, Versatile Systems Engineering, financially collapsed and was reorganized.

[10] Following this series of setbacks, SJS sought aid from the US shipyard Bath Iron Works in bringing the program under control.

[12] A third batch of frigates was cancelled in an effort by the Canadian Forces to acquire nuclear-powered submarines in the late 1980s.