More money out our pockets!!

Firearms registry signs $300-million computer deal

The Canadian Firearms Centre has awarded a $300-million contract to two high-tech firms to replace the eight-year-old gun registry computer system that has already cost $224 million, government documents reveal.

Justice Department briefing notes obtained by Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz say the 15-year contract was awarded last year, despite firearms centre claims that it has awarded only the initial phase of the contract for system development.

The reference to the new computer system is included in several hundred pages of documents concerning the transfer this year of the firearms program from the Justice Department to the Solicitor General's Department.

"A $300M contract was awarded to Team Centra (a partnership between two companies, CGI Group and BDP Business Data Services) to design a new licensing and registration system ($34 millions) and operate it over the next 15 years ($266 million)," the note says.

Earlier this year, the firearms centre refused to confirm rumours about the total cost of the computer contract, saying only that the startup phase would cost slightly more than $30 million.

Mr. Breitkreuz called the new system a waste of money, since the Justice Department already forked out more than $200 million for the existing system.

Computer development and operations are the largest components of $1 billion the firearms program is forecast to cost over a 10-year period beginning in 1995.

Mr. Breitkreuz noted that the department's performance report on the gun program, tabled in the Commons earlier this fall, did not mention the forecast of $300 million in new computer costs.

Took this off Huntshoot.com