Fantino has new responsibilities for DND procurement

DND procurement is a multi-billion dollar industry and new Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino, who will be a second voice at the Cabinet table on defence in this Parliament, will have responsibility for military procurement and for overseeing some big-ticket items. In the first step of the government's Canada First Defence Strategy, its 20-year defence and military spending plan, it's looking at: strategic airlift, tactical airlift, medium- to heavy-lift helicopters, joint support ships, medium-sized logistic trucks, Arctic off-shore patrol ships, Leopard 2 Tanks, the modernization of the Halifax class frigates and the establishment of a deep water docking and refueling facility in Nanisivik. The government wants to replace its core hardware at a cost of $45-billion to $50-billion over the next few years. The Canada First Defence Strategy also aims to increase the number of Regular Forces from 30,000 to 70,000; replacing the Forces' core equipment fleets; strengthening the state of the Forces' overall; and improving and modernizing the defence infrastructure by 2027-2028. According to the Canada First Defence Strategy, replacing the Canadian Forces' core equipment fleets by 2027-2028 includes: "15 ships to replace existing destroyers and frigates; 10 to 12 maritime patrol aircraft; 17 fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft; 65 next-generation fighter aircraft; and a fleet of land combat vehicles and systems." The Canada First Defence Strategy includes a cost of $15-billion for the purchases of C-17 Globemasters, C-130J Hercules, Arctic/offshore patrol ships, CH-47F Chinook helicopters, trucks, and other previously announced equipment over the 20-year span of the strategy. According to DND's website, "Strategic airlift is the rapid transport of a large number of passengers and/or over-sized heavy cargo over long distances within Canada or between Canada and a theatre of operations." It is a part of procurement because of the pressures that global political instability places on Canada's military. It needs its own access to strategic airlift to enable the Canadian Forces to meet demands, according to the CF website. The Canada First Defence Strategy for the next 20 years also includes a cost of $20-billion to go toward fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft, destroyers and frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, fighter aircraft, and land combat vehicles and systems. Another $25-billion in the Canada First Defence Strategy will be spent on individual weapons and communications equipment. Steven Staples, president of the Rideau Institute, said a lot of money is wasted. "We waste money on excess capacity; we waste money on pieces we don't need. The implication and the list is very long if you look at broken down submarines that we continue to upgrade that have no hope providing any enhanced security or even being operational in the near future," Mr. Staples said. Canada wants to assert its sovereignty over the Artic and other territorial waters, and the government would like to procure six to eight Arctic off-shore patrol ships for the Canadian Navy. Procurement is still in the definition phase and is expected to begin delivery in 2013. The ships would be used year-round in a variety of roles from domestic surveillance to search and rescue. Michel Drapeau, an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and a retired colonel, said if the goal is to boost Canada's presence in the North, then Artic patrol ships are needed, but if F-35s are being bought to replace F-18s, he said Canadians should know more about why the government wants to purchase them at a cost that will exceed $9-billion. Mr. Drapeau said: "The first aspect of any procurement is we have to decide what is the threat and what is it we need to meet this threat?" Elinor Sloan, associate professor of international relations in the department of political science and former defence analyst with Canada's Department of National Defence said, "I think allocating money to the Artic off-shore patrol vessels is absolutely critical, a capability the Canadian Forces will need in the future." According to the Canada First Defence Strategy, a purchase of six to eight Arctic off-shore patrol ships and three replenishment ships are supposed to be made. Prof. Sloan said she thinks security threats in the North will increase and that Canada will want to increase its ability to control the areas in the North. She said she strongly believes resources need to be devoted to naval assets. She said she thinks there has been less need to focus on land recently, and with Canada eventually withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, refocusing on naval assets in or around North America and open ocean approaches of defence, is the right way to go. Mr. Staples said he doesn't think the government should be buying the F-35s. "Now we're rushing out to spend an unknown amount of money on stealth fighters that really serve no purpose to Canada whatsoever. So we are overspending dramatically on defence right now and at a time when fiscal restraint is required, some reductions are going to have to be made," Mr. Staples said. Mr. Drapeau said he has no problem with the purchase of frigates or replenisher ships because Canada is a maritime nation and currently has an aged fleet. He also said if Canada wants to patrol and assure Canadian sovereignty on both coasts then the ships are needed. However, he said he does have a problem with just buying equipment because it looks like a good thing to do at the time. The government also wants to buy tanks and other land operated vehicles including "2,300 trucks and up to 100 Leopard 2 tanks." According to DND and the Canadian Forces websites, the Leopard 2 tanks are more advanced than the Leopard 1 tanks, and their features will increase protection of personnel against explosives, allowing for more efficient travel in difficult terrain. Prof. Sloan said she believes that there is a requirement for fighter jet capability now and in the future. But Mr. Drapeau said he has difficulty with the purchase of the F-35 because it's the largest procurement project in the history of the Canadian Forces because he's not sure Canada actually needs them. "It's like buying snow blowers if you are in Africa. It could be the very best snow blowers you could ever have, but why do you need snow blowers in Africa?" he said. Mr. Drapeau said it's a huge expenditure and the government is having difficulty with justifying the cost. Mr. Drapeau said what the military requires above anything else is to replace its naval fleet, because Canada is a three-ocean country and the fleet is not what it used to be. He said he thinks Canada made some first-class procurement projects such as the purchase of new Hercules aircrafts and helicopters, but his biggest issue is with the F-35 because the need for such an aircraft has not been presented, especially for the number being bought and the cost and when the expenditures is reassessed then it may leave some available fund for other things. Mr. Drapeau said the spending on big items is not assisting and is rather imposing on the treasury. He said he is not prepared to accept buying equipment for the purpose of buying equipment without first accessing and identifying a threat. "We buy this equipment in numbers we can afford, and if we don't do this, we'll run out of money and of course we'll have a negative impact upon the deficit at the same time," said Mr. Drapeau. Meanwhile, in 2009, the U.S. spent $661-billion compared to Canada's $19.2-billion. The Canadian government had forecasted a cost of $20,737,989,000 for military program activity in the fiscal year 2010-2011, according to the Department of National Defence's Report on Plans and Priorities for fiscal year 2010-2011. "The decade of darkness ended as this government took office and began working to rebuild the Canadian Forces. Since we took office, this has included new C17 airplanes, new C130J airplanes, new Chinook helicopters, new maritime helicopters, new tanks, new trucks, unmanned aerial vehicles and a new shipbuilding policy," said Defence Minister Peter MacKay (Central Nova, N.S.) on Jan. 25, 2011 in Winnipeg, MB for the Air Force Equipment and 17 Wing Infrastructure Announcement. Canada First Defence Strategy forecasts a budget increase to $30-billion in 2027-2028. According to the strategy from 2008-2009 to 2027-2028, close to $490-billion total from previous years combined will go to defence. The total defence spending breaks down into subcategories that will be spent from 2008-2009 to 2027-2028: $250-billion to personnel, $60-billion toward equipment, $40-billion to infrastructure, and $140-billion to readiness. According to the 2011-2012 DND spending estimates, DND and the Canadian Forces have three roles to perform: to defend Canada by delivering excellence at home, to defend North America by being a strong and reliable partner with the United States in the defence of the continent, and to contribute to international peace and security by projecting leadership abroad. The estimated expenditures for 2011-2012 are $21.3-billion, $19.9-billion to be approved by Parliament and $1.4-billion are statutory, according to the main estimates. DND has estimated an increase of nine per cent, or $191.8-million for the upcoming year. In order to control spending, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.) modified the pledge to reduce increases $525-million in 2012-13 and $1-billion annually in 2013-14. Total spending over the 20-year life of the military plan would likely be $390 to $410-billion. Mr. Staples said military spending is higher than it's ever been, while United Nations peacekeeping spending has never been lower. "The military has had to actually give back money to the government at the end of the fiscal year, because it's not able to absorb the massive increases in defence spending that the government has been pushing into the department," Mr. Staples said. "The problem is that the budget is not based on any reality, it's just a number that all the political parties want to see continuing to increase as if it's sort of a test of their mettle in order to be in favor and support the troops and to keep increasing military spending," he said. Mr. Staples said the money spent for military purposes doesn't have any connection to the UN Peacekeeping operations or Blue Helmet operations, because a decade has been spent in Afghanistan. He said he would like to see more focus on the military contributing to UN Peacekeeping operations, especially with the end of Afghanistan. "We'd like to see Canada return to UN peacekeeping, but we certainly don't need stealth fighters or submarines or even Leopard Tanks to do that," Mr. Staples said, adding that various branches of the military are pushing for specific things such as artic patrol vessels, because the branches are competing for each other for the same funding. Allen Maslove, a professor at Carleton University in the school of public policy and administration, said he thinks a way to attempt to strike a balance for cost-benefits is to have manufacturing done in Canada to benefit Canadian industries for industrial and regional offsets. "It usually costs more to get industrial and regional offsets than it does if you just buy this off the shelf," he said. Prof. Maslove also said against the industrial and regional offsets considerations for the effectiveness and the price of the systems that's being bought has to be weighed. "Whether they got the balance right, not just this government but whether any government has got the balance right is something that is very difficult to determine," Prof. Maslove said. news@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

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Fantino has new responsibilities for DND procurement

Canada's 20-year ambitious First Defence Strategy has some big ticket procurement plans.

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