Article content

OTTAWA — The Liberal government’s plan to accept bids for the navy’s future warships has been delayed because of a battle over the amount of Canadian content needed and the decision to allow into the competition a British design that exists only on paper.

Bids were to be requested from companies in August.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Federal government's plans to accept bids for future warships delayed over amount of Canadian content Back to video

But a government spokesman now says the request is expected to go out to companies sometime “in the fall” although no specific date was given.

The bid package, called a request for proposals or RFP, has gone through various drafts, the latest handed to industry representatives on Sunday for comments.

It is estimated that the new ships, called Canadian Surface Combatants, will cost more than $26 billion and will be the backbone of the Royal Canadian Navy’s future fleet.

The project has seen repeated delays with the navy at one time expecting the ships by 2015. The vessels are now planned for delivery sometime in the early 2020s.