9/2/2023 0 Comments Thomas bell master debater![]() A Reuters report Monday, based on a Pentagon document, suggests the average cost per plane will be more than US$130-million – nearly double the amount National Defence has claimed. While its capability remains unknown due to development problems, we now know that the costs have ballooned. In 2008, the department again looked at three contender aircraft and concluded, without providing documentation, that the F-35 offered “best value” because it provided “exceptional capability at the lowest cost.” “Also, while ministers were told that the 2006 MOU did not prevent Canada from having a competition in the future, they were not told of the practical limitations of doing so.”Įven as problems began to emerge with the F-35, officials at National Defence continued to re-assure their political masters that all was well. ![]() But they were not told that retaining industrial benefits for Canadian companies depended on buying the F-35. At the time, ministers were told, correctly, that signing the MOU did not commit Canada to buy the F-35. O’Connor, that the 2006 memorandum of understanding be signed. These conclusions were approved by the Chief of the Air Staff and the Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel) and formed part of the basis upon which National Defence recommended to the Minister, at that time Mr. “It concluded a strong preference for the F-35, stating: ‘It is not only the aircraft that best meets Canadian Forces’ requirements, with the longest life expectancy, but also is the most affordable’.” Ferguson cited a June, 2006, operational requirement document from National Defence as evidence that it had already dismissed the prospect of buying any of the four other candidate aircraft that were being assessed. The report suggested that by signing the 2006 MOU, Canada was committed irrevocably to the F-35). ![]() (The project was already nine years old at that stage and Canadian companies had already benefited from Canada’s participation. Yet Public Works did not receive National Defence’s statement of operational requirements, which laid out why the F-35 was the only plane capable of performing the contract, until one month later.īut the report made clear that the Department of National Defence made its choice by the time Canada signed a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-35, in November, 2006. The government announced its decision to buy the F-35s in July, 2010. The Department of Public Works, which acts as the government’s procurement authority, is implicated for its decision to endorse the purchase of the F-35 without an open competition or the documentation required to permit the CF-18 replacement be sole sourced. He states his audit does not question the capacity of the plane – “We did not audit the merits of the F-35 aircraft” – but is concerned about the “significant weaknesses in the decision-making process” used by DND. Ferguson is clear he believes National Defence decided the F-35 was the aircraft it wanted very early in the process and was determined to get it, regardless of cost or contracting regulations. “Yet in briefing materials from 2006 through 2010 that we have reviewed, neither the Minister nor decision-makers in National Defence and central agencies were kept informed of these problems and the associated risks of relying on the F-35 to replace the CF-18.” The report presents a Strangelovian vision of a Defence Department that viewed government contracting rules, Treasury Board guidelines and the oversight of Parliament as irritants to be trampled upon or ignored. MacKay, the defence ministers on whose watch these procedural abuses occurred, were made to look like stooges, rather than complicit. The saving grace for the Conservatives is that Gordon O’Connor and Mr. His report has allowed the opposition parties to tarnish the Tories’ reputation for competence. Ferguson is no longer the unilingual villain whose nomination the Liberals opposed. The government should “put in place a process that leads to the right decision,” he said. His only recommendation was that DND come clean with its cost estimates. This clearly casts doubts on DND’s ability to manage any future procurement project but the opposition didn’t go there and neither did new the Auditor General, Michael Ferguson, in his press conference. ![]() Public Works will take the lead on the F-35 project going forward, with a secretariat in the department reporting to a committee of deputy ministers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |