Well, it's interesting that we have, as it were, split masters. I report to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, but our client in fact is the Department of National Defence. Most specifically, we work for the associate deputy minister of infrastructure and environment.
There are two parts to our mandate, which is interesting. There is the work we do for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces, and there's also a second part of our mandate which allows us to undertake certain projects for the defence of Canada, which is why we were allowed to build the Communications Security Establishment. We built CSE under a P3. We're currently working with Service Canada on the new data centres across the country. There's a consolidation of 35 down to six data centres, I believe, more or less.
There are two parts to the mandate, and so it would make no sense for us to be completely beholden to or be a part of the Department of National Defence. The reason that was done, when we were created in 1951, is that defence procurement, and specifically infrastructure building and management, is different from the work that, say, Public Services and Procurement does for all kinds of building, all kinds of services across the country. It allows us to develop specialized processes and highly trained personnel who are familiar with the rigours of military procurement.
It also allows us to work directly with contractors who have to understand that having done something for Public Services and Procurement doesn't mean you can behave the same way when you do something for the Department of National Defence. It allows us to pre-qualify, and our independence really gives us standing. It also allows us to have, shall we say, a consultative relationship with the people we work for on the bases. We work with the base engineers. We work with the base commander.
We get a lot of respect in that back and forth as an independent organization being able to provide advice, when it's solicited, on how to plan this infrastructure work.