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Alion has also filed a legal challenge in Federal Court, asking for a judicial review of the decision. In that challenge, Alion argues the Type 26 cannot meet the stated mandatory requirements, including speed, that Canada set out for the new warship and should therefore be disqualified.

It also noted in that challenge that the requirements and other parameters of the surface combatant project were altered 88 times during the process in a way that diluted the requirements for the warship, allowing the government and Irving to pick what it calls “an unproven design platform.”

Alion had offered Canada the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën Air Defence and Command frigate, which the firm claimed meets all of Canada’s requirements.

Rania Haddad, a spokeswoman for Public Services and Procurement Canada, said the federal government is committed to a fair and transparent procurement process. “As this matter is the subject of a complaint which has just been accepted for inquiry by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and is also the subject of litigation in the Federal Court, comments cannot be provided at this time,” she said in an email.

The BAE Type 26 frigate’s entry in the competition was controversial from the start.

It is unclear how long that will take, but Irving and the federal government were hoping to have negotiations wrapped up with Lockheed Martin Canada by early next year

The Liberal government had said previously it would only accept bids featuring mature existing designs or designs of ships already in service with other navies, on the grounds they could be built faster and would be less risky; problems with unproven designs are often found once one of the vessels is in the water and operating for the first time.