Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Ferguson. In 2011, your office's report "Maintaining and Repairing Military Equipment " stated there was a lack of cost and performance information as well as a significant gap between the demand for maintenance and repair services and the funds available.
To your 2016 report, paragraph 3 of your outline here today says that National Defence made some initial planning assumptions that underestimated support costs, overestimated equipment use, and under-resourced personnel requirements. Back to point 6, National Defence did not have enough trained pilots, technicians, weapon system managers, and contracting staff to carry out maintenance work for new equipment.
With all that in mind, my question comes from the perspective of not only me as a member of Parliament, but also on behalf of constituents and taxpayers. These are, from an outsider's perspective and with hindsight in mind, simple mistakes that shouldn't have been made. But why are they made, not only with respect to what has happened in National Defence, but as I know this committee has heard before, with respect to other departments?
I know your office has written a number of reports over the years that outline mistakes that are made that led to the ineffective and inefficient use of funds. Again, from a taxpayer's perspective, these mistakes shouldn't be made, but all too often they are. What are some potential patterns that you've identified throughout all this? Is it the complexity inherent in this sort of work in terms of purchasing, a lack of communication, silos within departments, for instance? What sorts of patterns could you point to?