Vanguard Magazine

P PROCUREMENT www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 19 "National Defence did not adequately assess the developmental nature of this aircra, and the risks related to cost and the complexity of the required technical modifications were underestimated." – Auditor General Sheila Fraser In a 2010 report then-Auditor General Sheila Fraser blamed the Department of National Defence for failing to take into account the developmental nature of Canada's Sea King replacements. %***.(-%(""()!$* )!$$,"%&#$* %)&!(*%(.(%**!%$'+!&#$* ,*!" +$()*$!$%* & .)!%"%!"$&). %"%!"+($$ &"%$+)() *!)- .-*)*!$* !"&&".- *-"($ * (/)-"")#(!$()( $* $%"%!)*%,(.)!$ *%$)+()+&(!%(&!"!*.+$*!%$"!*.$%#%(*(()&*!, %- * (.%+(('+!(#$*!)%( &(%**!%$(* !$ &&(*+)%( #%$*(%"-$%(#$* !(! *!$%(%()&!"!)*&&"!*!%$)%**$#*.%+( ('+!(#$*)%#%(*". "(++ %$+, !)!** %***.)*$* $)+$&!$*-+ '# change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy. The acquisition, deployment, and sus- tainment of strategic defence capabilities are not simple exercises. It is not simply a case of buying more planes, boats, and guns. There is the consideration of what the future battlefield looks like; Ukraine is a very different environment to that of Syria and so the capabilities required are different. Canada's requirements can be very different to those of other na- tions, even so-called Military-Off-The- Shelf (MOTS) hardware may need to be "Canadianized." More complex still are the inter-relationships and integrations between capabilities. We must also con- sider how we operate and interface with our partners. A capability that meets all of Canada's requirements may not neces- sarily be interoperable with those of other coalition partners, all of whom are simul- taneously making similar procurement decisions in regard to their future strate- gic capabilities. Unsurprisingly then, around the world many major defence programs have failed to meet their objectives. The majority of these failures are a result of the ultimate program objectives being lost or unclear. Take for example the much criticised pro- curement of military helicopters in Can- ada. In an October 2010 report on the status of the Canadian Cyclone project, then-Auditor General Sheila Fraser point- ed to the program's problems. "National Defence did not adequately assess the de- velopmental nature of this aircraft, and the risks related to cost and the complexity of the required technical modifications were underestimated," she concluded. All too often, high-level project objectives are for- gotten in the overwhelming detail of the technical requirements. In fact, a critical element of any major procurement op- eration is having a clear understanding of what success will look like from the outset.

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