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The last time sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries placed a big order for new ships, it went overseas because the deal was so compelling it couldn’t be passed up.

There will be much interest over the next few months to see which shipyard makes the winning bid this time. The big issue for most people won’t be the price or the terms. It will be whether new sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ ferries are built in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards is the sole sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½-based shipyard to qualify for bidding for the right to build three intermediate-class vessels.

The Queens of Burnaby and Nanaimo, circa 1965, which usually sail Comox-Powell River and Tsawwassen-Gulf Islands respectively, are to be replaced, with the third new one to serve as a spare.

Nine yards around the world responded to an early call for interest and the field was narrowed down to five. The entrants are from Turkey, Poland, Norway and Germany, as well as Seaspan.

The German shipyard — Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft — is the same firm that built the three big Coastal-class vessels, as well as the Northern Expedition.

And based on that contract, it is a tough competitor for Seaspan to go up against.

The German yard turns out ferries like Nissan produces cars. The boast at the time it won the contract in 2004 was that it hadn’t gone over time or over budget in 20 years.

The contract allowed sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries to put only 20 per cent down during the three-year construction phase, which saved financing costs.

The rest wasn’t due until the ships arrived on our coast and went through a host of sea trials. The yard guaranteed it would meet every specification, with graduating penalties if any ship fell short.

(For example, $160,000 a day off the purchase price for every tenth of a knot they fell short of the specified maximum speed.)

Pricing was locked in as well. If the price of steel dropped, three-quarters of the savings went to the buyer. If it rose during construction, the ferry price remained fixed.

Terms like that compelled the company to take the obvious political hit for going off-shore and signing the deal strictly on dollars and cents.

But things are different this time around.

Seaspan is in a much better position than it was nine years ago. The North Vancouver shipyard won a good chunk of the federal ship-procurement strategy and is well into a major upgrade of its facilities.

In 2004, there was some doubt whether it could have done the job even if it had been awarded the contract. This time around, the big question is whether Seaspan can slot the work into its building schedule.

Things are different at sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries as well. In 2004, it was completely independent of government, as stipulated when the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Liberals restructured the system to divorce it from political interference.

Then-CEO David Hahn had carte blanche to do as he saw fit. In the subsequent nine years, the government has dived back into the business of intervening in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries operations.

So if cabinet decides it doesn’t want to face a fresh round of complaints about stiffing sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ shipyard workers and exporting sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ jobs, there’s ample recent precedent for stepping in to ensure things happen the way the government wishes them to happen.

Also in the mix is a federal duty on foreign-built ships. There was to be a $100 million-plus levy on the three Coastal-class ships and the Northern Expedition. After years of negotiation, it was waived by the federal government.

Whether sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries gets another waiver — if the contract goes to a foreign supplier — depends on circumstances, including the size of the ships. But based on the last application, the decision looks to be an intensely political one.

Everyone would love to see them built in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ But the corporation is flat broke and can’t afford any sort of premium, if one is needed to make that happen.

It will come down to a number of balancing acts by bidders, the corporation and the government.