Mr. Chair, the 2010-11 fiscal year is a very good example that we can use to answer this question. The public accounts will show that, versus the amount of money that was appropriated by Parliament compared to what we spent, there was about $2.4 billion unspent. However, in any given fiscal year, the executive has the authority to reduce the spending ceiling that Parliament has given us.
In 2010-11, that authority was reduced by about $1 billion. That $1 billion, Mr. Chair, was associated with funding related to projects we expected to have to spend money on, but which we did not. That $1 billion in 2010-11 reduced our spending authority. That money will be made available to DND in the future.
A further $450 million or so of that $2.4 billion was carried forward pursuant to the regime that all departments have, a normal operating budget carry-forward regime. A further $50 million was unspent because of money that we had allocated to us for security at the Vancouver Olympics, which we did not need, leaving $950 million lapsing.
I can address the specifics of your point, and go back to a point I made earlier. DND actually manages two distinct capital budgets within its capital vote. One of those budgets allows us to reprofile money as necessary. That's the part of the budget from which the $1 billion I alluded to earlier came from—the $1 billion out of the $2.4 billion that lapsed because of delivery delays. That money has been moved to the right, and will be made available to Defence in future years when those liabilities arise.
The second capital budget does not give us those same flexibilities. So, included in that $950 million that lapsed is about $500 million in capital spending associated with specific projects under contract, where the money will not be moved to the right. We will have to fund those liabilities, when they arise, out of funds we didn't expected to have to use for that purpose.
An example of that phenomenon is the maritime helicopter project, where we had budgeted to spend approximately $250 million in 2010-11. The helicopters were not delivered. Consequently, we did not pay any money to Sikorsky. Central agencies turned down our request to reprofile that money to the future. As a consequence, that approximately $250 million lapsed, and is included in that $950 million that I just alluded to. That's the biggest single project representing that phenomenon. There's about another $250 million associated with other projects that fall into the same category.