Good morning. My duties on behalf of the vice-chief are primarily threefold. I manage the defence services program, oversee performance management and government reporting for DND, and coordinate issues with respect to strategic capabilities and resources between DND and other international security partners like NATO and NORAD.
The Defence Services Program comprises all the activities and projects approved by the Department which are deemed to be critical for the delivery of affordable and effective services to the government of Canada and Canadian citizens. I am responsible for allocating the resources needed to meet the Department's objectives. That could include staff, capital or financial assets.
As regards the Defence Services Program, my organization asks itself the following: “What is the best way to meet a resource need?”, and “Can we afford it?”; it then provides the answers. To that end, I have a staff responsible for analyzing every aspect of a project proposal, including how urgent the operational requirement is, any capability gaps, financial constraints, turnaround times, contractual obligations, and so forth. My staff helps me set priorities for the Defence Services Program and coordinate approvals at both the departmental and Treasury Board levels as regards spending authority.
In managing the Defence Services Program, I also receive horizontal support and decision-making advice— in other words, within the Department, at my level—from the Program Management Board, which I supervise on behalf of the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff and which is part of the third level of the Department's approved governance structure. The Board uses n a planning horizon of one to four years and looks primarily at resource allocation and management in the course of the fiscal year, as well as any corresponding financial repercussions. The Board also recommends changes to the Program in subsequent fiscal years and submits them to the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff and the Deputy Minister for approval.
My division is also responsible for internal performance management framework across the department. As part of this mandate, we assist in the development and implementation of the departmental governance process in order to respond to internally and externally mandated reports, like the reports on plans and priorities, etc.
As part of this we collect data department-wide on a huge variety of issues ranging from operational performance, to capital planning, to workforce numbers. This data is incorporated into reports we produce, such as the departmental performance report, the report on plans and priorities, the management accountability framework, and the program activity architecture with the Treasury Board.
The responsibility for managing, coordinating, and advising on strategic-level capabilities and resource issues of a security nature related to NATO, Partnership for Peace, NORAD, and other government departments and NGOs, also falls under my mandate as the chief of programs. Generally, we facilitate relations between DND and these organizations by responding to and influencing real issues, programs, and resource demands within the department.
On procurement, I am obviously part of a much larger whole. I work in close consultation with both the chief of force development for demands and the assistant deputy minister of materiel to effectively and efficiently meet the department's mandate to give our troops the tools they need to assure success.
I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.