Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to inform the committee’s deliberations by offering comparative insights from the U.S.'s experience with procurement.
My name is Alexis Lasselle Ross. While I currently own a consulting business that advises companies as they navigate the defence market, I've spent 20 years in government working on national security policy. During my time in Congress and at the U.S. Department of Defense, I spent several years instituting reform in government programs, most recently in defence acquisition.
As a congressional staffer, I wrote legislation to change the focus and outcomes in weapons procurement. I continued this work in the Army, as the presidentially appointed deputy assistant secretary to the Army for strategy and acquisition reform, where I worked to change the policies, processes and responsibilities in the Army’s acquisition enterprise. Through these experiences, I have gained an understanding of the necessity, obstacles and benefits of acquisition reform.
It is my honour to appear today before the committee to offer my observations on the procurement process. While I cannot speak with regard to the Canadian procurement system or its impact on the Canadian Armed Forces, I can explain the American experience in weapons acquisition and our attempts to reform our own defence acquisition system to yield better outcomes for our military forces.
There are several well-cited pitfalls of the U.S. defence acquisition system. For example, it can take 10 or more years to field a major weapon system, and the DOD’s procurement processes typically do not adapt quickly to emerging threats or evolving technologies. Consequently, there have been dozens of initiatives to reform acquisition policies, processes and organizational structure over the last 50 years.
Every several years, a surge of interest and activity emerges that leads to notable changes. As in every kind of public policy debate, there is a proverbial pendulum that swings between what is important or which side of the debate triumphs. In acquisition reform, the pendulum usually swings between optimizing cost, schedule or performance when procuring weapon systems.
Currently, the American defence system is in an era that promotes speed and innovation. Starting in roughly 2015, we have undertaken structural changes, such as the realignment of decision-making authority to accelerate the pace of programs' advancement through the process. We have made procedural changes, including creating new pathways in the process that eliminated some of the procedural requirements for programs and sped up their progress. We have expanded the use of the more flexible and, therefore, more rapid contracting methods.
With regard to innovation, we have taken steps to attract non-traditional vendors into the defence market, such as the technology companies from the Silicon Valley tech hub here in California. This has consisted of the creation of organizations designed to perform outreach to and guide these non-traditional vendors as they enter the defence market. We have also created special authorities to incentivize the acquisition workforce to utilize these new, non-traditional entrants.
In closing, there are three considerations that I would offer to anyone undertaking acquisition reform.
First, any major reform effort must be bolstered by a sound implementation plan. Reform is really just a good idea until it has been implemented. The majority of the work occurs when the changes are executed and the system adapts to the new paradigm. Really, it entails changes in the organization’s culture, which take, of course, a lot of time, so it's definitely worth being prepared for a long endeavour.
Next, the extent of the success of acquisition reform is inherently limited by the faults of adjacent systems that impact acquisition outcomes. For the U.S., these are the requirements system, which determines what to buy, and the budgeting system, which resources the procurement. After a few years of designing and then implementing acquisition reform in both Congress and at the U.S. Department of Defense, I came to the conclusion that acquisition could not go any faster without changes to the budgeting process, which is another rigid, slow and overly prescribed process.
Finally, one must anticipate a change in focus in the near future. Just when you feel that the previous changes are taking hold, something will inevitably happen, such as a sudden involvement in military operations that shifts priorities or a change in the political party in power. Again, with these, the focus shifts to a new priority. As I said before, in acquisition it usually means shifting the priority between optimizing cost, schedule or performance.
I applaud the committee for its interest in improving the Canadian procurement system, and I hope that my testimony proves useful to that endeavour.
I look forward to your questions.