NOTE: Versions of this article also appeared in: The Montreal Gazette, The Ottawa Citizen, The Regina Leader Post, The Victoria Times Colonist and The Calgary Herald

PUBLICATION:  The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)

DATE:  2003.11.27

EDITION:  Final

SECTION:  National

PAGE:  A13

BYLINE:  Tim Naumetz

SOURCE:  For CanWest News Service

DATELINE:  OTTAWA

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Contract to replace gun-registry system set at $300 million

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

Justice Department briefing notes obtained by Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz say the 15-year contract for the new computer system was awarded last year, despite claims from the firearms centre 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 states.

Earlier this year, the firearms centre refused to confirm rumours that were circulating about the total cost of the new computer contract, saying only that the start-up phase would cost slightly over $30 million.

The briefing document said the new system was projected to save $3.5 million a year, but could not be implemented until new regulations and administrative changes are in place. A spokesperson for the centre insisted Wednesday that the full contract to Team Centra will not be finalized until the new computer system is certified.

Breitkreuz called the new computer 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.