I'll believe it when I see it.
How 7 of our Allies are moving forward.
Seven European nations have increased defense budgets in one month. Who will be next? - Breaking Defense
Germany, Belgium, Romania, Italy, Poland, Norway and Sweden have all pledged to increase defense spending since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.breakingdefense.com
maybe military procurement needs it's own department? no TB or anyone else. just one department to overlook it all, spend it all, etcSo other than some LPO, what ‘procurement’ is DND actually allowed to do? I mean as opposed to what a 100% civilian staffed department that has….you know…the word ‘Procurement’ in its title…
If only the Government had come to know that major capital project related procurement is problematic before this week…
At this rate they're gonna kick us out like the US, the UK and Australia have.How 7 of our Allies are moving forward.
Seven European nations have increased defense budgets in one month. Who will be next? - Breaking Defense
Germany, Belgium, Romania, Italy, Poland, Norway and Sweden have all pledged to increase defense spending since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.breakingdefense.com
I think you still need competent oversight of some sort.maybe military procurement needs it's own department? no TB or anyone else. just one department to overlook it all, spend it all, etc
Down here there is a Combat Requirements course that both green suiters and GS Civilians can take.Explain to me how an infantry officer is trained to understand procurement.
When the CAF insists on inserting military personnel who are at best enthusiastic amateurs into procurement, results suffer.
Explain to me how an infantry officer is trained to understand procurement.
When the CAF insists on inserting military personnel who are at best enthusiastic amateurs into procurement, results suffer.
Engineering ≠ ProcurementImagine if we had these things called aptitude tests and this other thing called, Tech Staff, which we didn't pay complete lip service to.
Btw, I used to work for an Infantry Officer who was #1 in Mech Eng at UofT. They also went to Tech Staff but then basically never used any of it because the Army felt no need to employ this individual in that capacity.
Engineering ≠ Procurement
The tech staff program prepares people to be requirements staff who are a little harder for corporate sales reps to snow. Graduates can still have no idea how to run a capital project.
See this, please, which I wrote about 15 years ago: General versus EconomistIt could be God himself as the CDS that PMO would not trust him.
I understand what you wrote however this is not M. Harper. He vision of the federal government is not in line with what the founding fathers layed out. The results is 5Eyes as become the 4Eyes and we are now a burden to our allies and he doesn’t care. DND is a nuisance for is great goal.See this, please, which I wrote about 15 years ago: General versus Economist
As far as I can see, nothing has changed.
-----
P.S. I knew the general, but not well; I worked for the economist ~ once or twice directly, on projects he initiated.
To be clear, the current government won't spend more on defence, because the government doesn't have a policy that justifies the spending, when it was the current government that gave us our current policy?The story circulating around the office is the Minister was presented with a number of options to get to 2%, but most of them represented new capabilities. They realized that they were hamstrung by their own bureaucratic processes in that they didn't have a vehicle to raise new projects against, that vehicle being a policy clearly outlining the need for these new capabilities. So, DND was sent packing with direction to get SSE updated, and to do it ASAP. Again, this is third hand, but what we were told is the government was quite willing to jack up defence spending, and in fact is resigned to it, but felt that without a policy to justify where the extra moneys would go, they could not commit any large amounts of additional funding at this time. This makes sense to me, having worked in government for many years at a level where budgets get set, so I feel there is still hope that we will see a good boost once SSE mk 2 gets approved.
And starting with SSE could not have been a good policy ?The story circulating around the office is the Minister was presented with a number of options to get to 2%, but most of them represented new capabilities. They realized that they were hamstrung by their own bureaucratic processes in that they didn't have a vehicle to raise new projects against, that vehicle being a policy clearly outlining the need for these new capabilities. So, DND was sent packing with direction to get SSE updated, and to do it ASAP. Again, this is third hand, but what we were told is the government was quite willing to jack up defence spending, and in fact is resigned to it, but felt that without a policy to justify where the extra moneys would go, they could not commit any large amounts of additional funding at this time. This makes sense to me, having worked in government for many years at a level where budgets get set, so I feel there is still hope that we will see a good boost once SSE mk 2 gets approved.
That fits perfectly with the current Government’s policy of gaslighting its enemies…The story circulating around the office is the Minister was presented with a number of options to get to 2%, but most of them represented new capabilities. They realized that they were hamstrung by their own bureaucratic processes in that they didn't have a vehicle to raise new projects against, that vehicle being a policy clearly outlining the need for these new capabilities. So, DND was sent packing with direction to get SSE updated, and to do it ASAP.
Again, this is third hand, but what we were told is the government was quite willing to jack up defence spending, and in fact is resigned to it, but felt that without a policy to justify where the extra moneys would go, they could not commit any large amounts of additional funding at this time.
This makes sense to me, having worked in government for many years at a level where budgets get set, so I feel there is still hope that we will see a good boost once SSE mk 2 gets approved.
FFS.They also went to Tech Staff but then basically never used any of it because the Army felt no need to employ this individual in that capacity.
I'll channel my inner Randy Carlile here "It's fine... just fine". Certainly better than what we were working with the 10-12 years before it was released. Despite the language used it spells out defense priorities with enough direction that the CAF could get to work. It needs to be better though. It needs enough juice to get us past just treading water.And starting with SSE could not have been a good policy ?
Has long procurement is not align with capabilities, we’ll have nothing except reliving the Groundhog Day. This mean a dedicated DND/CAF team. The culture change on the leadership part is very much needed but I got the feeling it’s the unwritten conditions for us to have some influence over are own destiny.I'll channel my inner Randy Carlile here "It's fine... just fine". Certainly better than what we were working with the 10-12 years before it was released. Despite the language used it spells out defense priorities with enough direction that the CAF could get to work. It needs to be better though. It needs enough juice to get us past just treading water.
__________________________________________________________
I was super pissed with the budget's military side. I was more surprised at the cutback in the deficit and pleasantly surprised at that. This budget will not exacerbate inflation either which was a key concern of mine. Being a fiscal conservative and pro-military spender was forcing me to choose mom or dad's house in the divorce. In my pain and confusion, I'll just lash out here at you folks!
@Edward Campbell and @calculus I get exactly what you are saying regarding finance not being comfortable with DND's capacity to spend what would be a windfall of cash. There is no way we could spend it over the next year. That sort of increase needs to be planned out.
I would not be surprised if a number of projects on the books are pushed ahead faster this year. It can be done if the light and heat get put on. Nor would I be surprised if the F35 deal gets pushed as the big-spending ticket this year. The budget I don't think accounts for that specifically and we all know governments add lines through the year.
I also expect project offices to be stood up or fleshed out for some long-suffering thorns. NORAD site refurb/replacement. Submarines. MCDV replacement. And a whole hockey sock of army items that are on the books drip torturing themselves through the procurement process (ATGM and Comms being top of the list) once SSE is updated... with a plan.
If Euro security is still a concern next budget the groundwork hopefully will have been laid. My biggest concern is that we (Canada) may be numb to Ukraine by then and the moment may have passed to get the big payout. Europe won't be though, this is their 9-11 movement when the entire world changed.
Key word Competant.I think you still need competent oversight of some sort.