National Defence Committee on Oct. 7th, 2010

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

These are your words.

[Alan Williams]

No, they are not. I said they leave themselves open to those kinds of questions and challenges when you don't do things openly.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

The last sentence, which you didn't read, says “If none of the reasons given by ministers to hand this contract to Lockheed Martin stand up to scrutiny, and they do not, then what is the real reason for the government’s decision? Someone should find out.”

[Alan Williams]

Absolutely.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That's a pretty thinly veiled accusation.

[Alan Williams]

Not to me. I think you're reading things into it that I didn't intend.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Perhaps.

Nine countries are involved in this program. Do you think the planners in the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Marine Corps don't have their act together?

[Alan Williams]

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Are they capable of and qualified to make a good decision on military requirements and comparing aircraft to meet their future requirements?

[Alan Williams]

I'm sure they are.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Would you say the same about the Brits, the Norwegians, the Danes, the--

[Alan Williams]

I can't comment on others. I have no idea what their processes were. I have no idea what their rules are. I have no idea what their other assets are in terms of jet aircraft.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Have any of the other MOU partners held a competition?

[Alan Williams]

I think the Norwegians did, or tried to and it didn't work. I'm not sure.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

The Norwegians issued a request for information, they got the information, they analyzed it, and that was it, because they realized when they got the information that this airplane wasn't the airplane they require.

[Alan Williams]

I'd only say that I'm very proud of how we do things here in Canada, our processes and our people. I have no doubt that were we to undertake a competition, we would be very effective.

I just want to make one other point. It's interesting that at the very time we're talking about all this sole-sourcing, the U.S. in fact last year, as you're probably aware, passed the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, signed by the President. I think it was with full House and full Senate support, no objections. It says—and this is very interesting—that “The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the acquisition plan for each major defense acquisition program includes measures to maximize competition at both the prime contract level and the subcontract level...”.

When I was there, certainly we really thought very highly of the Canadian processes. We tried to make sure we competed as much as possible, because that was the smart way. I would always hold that over my American counterparts. Now, frankly it seems to me that we're reverting. They're the ones that are demanding competition and we're the ones who are saying let's just sole-source.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Competition or option for competition.... The option for competition is if you have two pieces of equipment that will do the job. When you only have one piece of equipment that meets the requirements set by the military, that's one of the reasons for sole-sourcing.

[Alan Williams]

Providing you can prove that, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank you, Mr. Williams.

[Alan Williams]

Are we done already?

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Yes.

[Alan Williams]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

We have other work to discuss as a committee.

I want to thank you for being with us today.

[Alan Williams]

I enjoyed it. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Merci.