Government Operations Committee on March 22nd, 2023

[Simon Page]

Again, I don't have the exact figure. I have an appreciation of the process and how lengthy it has been, but I don't have the exact figure on the length of the process itself in years or months.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Could you include that in your written response?

[Simon Page]

Absolutely.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Thank you.

With respect to the heavy logistics vehicle wheeled and the light support vehicle wheeled used by the Canadian Armed Forces, is there a replacement process under way? If yes, for how long? How many new or replacement vehicles have been delivered to our military?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Again, I'll turn to the assistant deputy minister.

[Simon Page]

Thank you for the question.

We don't have a specific replacement project for that fleet of vehicles. We have a specific project going on at GDLS-Canada in London, Ontario, for armoured combat support vehicles. We had a very good start to the project and it remains one in very good standing. The vehicles, as we all know, are part of the donation to Ukraine, so—

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

That's right.

[Simon Page]

—we're continuing with the project now. The company is doing very well in that regard.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

There have been a few starts and stops in replacing the LSVWs and HLVWs. They're the workhorses of our land forces. Here in Canada, they're deployed on domestic operations and used in training, and they were sent overseas to Afghanistan. They're older than some of our colleagues sitting in the House of Commons, and they sometimes run for 24 hours a day, for days at a time. They are badly in need of replacement.

Sidearms like the SIG P320s are badly needed.

Do you know how long it took, Minister, to replace the rifles the Canadian Rangers use? Do you know the length of time?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

No, I certainly don't.

I'll turn this over to the assistant deputy minister.

[Simon Page]

Thank you for the question.

Again, I don't have the exact figure for these projects, in terms of length or the selection processes run. I will be happy to submit that to the committee in writing.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Have RFPs been issued for portable anti-tank missiles or air defence systems?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I will pass this to the assistant deputy minister.

[Simon Page]

We have processes going on for those systems right now, through the urgent operational requirements process.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Minister, were you not aware those RFPs were issued?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I am informed by my public officials, on a regular basis, when it is deemed that I need to be aware of a particular situation.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

I would say you need to be aware that RFPs are being issued for major defence systems, that we are failing our men and women in uniform by not providing them adequate equipment to do their jobs, and that anti-tank missiles and air defence systems are not able to be deployed in defence of our country, because we don't have them. We have none. I would suggest your regular briefings include information about these processes.

I expect that, when we hear the response from your officials on the amount of time that has elapsed in these processes.... It would be interesting to hear whether there is any history on the HLVW and LSVW replacements. As I said, they're old, and that process has been started before.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

You'll have to finish up your question quickly, Mr. Barrett.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

These are processes that should be at the top of your list of things that you know about, ma'am.

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

I assure you, Mr. Barrett, that we respond as soon as the Department of National Defence requests us to move on procurement, and I trust my public officials know that it is my requirement of them.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

You didn't even know that—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That is our time. I'm sorry.

We'll go to Ms. Thompson, please, for five minutes.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Minister. It's always good to see your team with you.

Could I ask, before I move into my formal questions, approximately how many RFPs would be open in the department at any given time?

[Helena Jaczek, Liberal, Markham—Stouffville, ON]

Again, I will turn to my associate deputy minister.

[Arianne Reza]

That is an excellent question. However, I don't have that at my fingertips because there are 400,000 transactions related to procurement every year.

At PSPC we do 37,000 transactions valued at $24 billion, whether they're an RFP, a negotiation, an invitation to qualify or an invitation for information from the industry. Since there are so many different moments of time when a procurement is live, having that actual view across all the mandatory commodities that the government buys is a very difficult snapshot in time to produce.