A story in CBC News reports that the federal government may be rebooting its military procurement operations under a revised governance structure:
CBC News has learned the Conservative government intends to reform Canada’s troubled system of military procurement and could announce its plans as early as next month’s speech from the throne. Those plans could see the formation of a new agency under a single minister to manage all military procurement, or a secretariat of bureaucrats from each of the departments currently involved in sourcing Canada’s military equipment.
The decision to change the procurement process follows years of criticism of the government’s handling of several massive military purchases worth tens of billions of dollars. It’s also been stung by the still-severe troubles with the nearly three-decade-old program to replace Canada’s aging Sea King ship-borne helicopters. The litany of bad news and criticism of procurement, alongside the apparent public perception of boondoggle and breakdown, seem now to have pushed the government into action.
The story notes that there is growing support for a more streamlined approach to decision-making with fewer cooks in the military’s procurement mess hall.
