Canadian officials are putting aside a bid by Quebec's Davie Yards for a contract under a C$35 billion ($37.1 billion) federal shipbuilding program until its eligibility can be determined, a senior official said on Thursday. A Quebec court earlier allowed the sale of Davie Yards assets to a subsidiary of Upper Lakes Group (ULG). That put ULG and its consortium partners -- Canadian engineering group SNC-Lavalin (SNC.TO) and South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (042660.KS) -- in the running for one of the two contracts to overhaul the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard fleets. Determining eligibility is not expected to delay the procurement process, said the senior official from the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy Secretariat. Davie, a 200-year-old facility on the south shore of the St Lawrence River near Quebec City, has been in bankruptcy protection for more than a year. Acquisition talks with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri broke down last week.
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