I believe this is part of a message that was sent to all CHC UK employees:
Subject: Update on U.K. SAR Bidding Process
U.K. Colleagues,
Late Thursday there was a big development in the bidding process for U.K. SAR helicopter services that you need to know about. The net: CHC won’t be asked to submit final tenders for this contract. That’s disappointing news. While we never take contracts for granted, we go into the tender process intending to win every one that we choose to bid on.
At the same time, we’ve got to make sure that the business we take on comes with a sufficient level of profitability. That’s in the long-term best interest of CHC and our customers, who benefit from our reinvesting in important new technology and other capabilities. The U.K. Department for Transport advised us that another bidder tendered at more than 20 percent below the price we submitted.
The process we followed was professional, disciplined and thorough. We think our final proposal would have provided a robust, high-quality solution; unique capabilities; and great value for the U.K. government and general public. We don’t have insight to the financial or other motivations of competitors. But we know that the economics at a price 20 percent lower than our interim bid simply aren’t right for CHC.
Best regards,
Peter Bartolotta
Chief Operating Officer and
President, Helicopter Services