Mr. Chair, honourable committee members, I am very pleased to be able to speak to you today. As some of you are not very familiar with Defence Construction Canada, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about the company.
Defence Construction's mandate pursuant to the Defence Production Act is to deliver defence projects related to physical infrastructure. The corporation's been doing this for 56 years and has developed a recognized expertise in real property contracting, contract management, and in certain related areas.
Defence Construction supports the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence in meeting their operational requirements at site, across Canada and abroad. We currently have an office in Afghanistan supporting the mission there.
The management of industrial security for defence projects is a joint responsibility of National Defence and Defence Construction. We are accountable for ensuring the security of sensitive information and assets once the security requirements have been identified by the Department of National Defence. The corporation has always implemented measures consistent with the government security policy to safeguard those assets and information.
Furthermore, we have agreed with Treasury Board Secretariat to apply the government security policy to all our operations related to the delivery of defence projects. Defence Construction uses the industrial security division of Public Works and Government Services Canada to provide the contractual clauses appropriate for identified security requirements and to process clearances for individuals and firms that are contracted to work on defence projects.
Defence Construction proactively implemented procedures to strengthen its management of industrial security during the Auditor General's audit activity. When the report was published, we accepted her recommendations to further strengthen the security management framework.
As Madam Fraser pointed out, Defence Construction shared with her its action plan to deal with her recommendations, and the plan was made available to the committee in advance of this meeting.
I would be very pleased to discuss our progress against this plan or any other aspect of the report that interests members. I'm confident that Defence Construction does its part as an integral member of Canada's defence and security team to safeguard sensitive assets and information related to defence projects.
Thank you.