Madam Speaker, the Department of National Defence and the Canadian forces remain very determined to maintain a multipurpose combat ready force. They are, however, obliged to run the defence program as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
The department remains firmly in favour of ASD, alternative service delivery, which is an important tool in improving the efficiency of the organization by freeing up resources and putting them to work where the need is greatest, that is operational readiness.
In simple terms, the department and the Canadian forces must devote their limited resources to the functions that they alone can perform. To date, annual savings from ASD initiatives are estimated at around $62 million. However, the department expects these annual savings to increase to approximately $175 million in the years to come.
Given the complexity of managing the supply chain for an organization as broad as DND and the Canadian forces, the department believes that the only feasible option is to pursue a commercial approach through a competitive process. These savings resulting from the supply chain project are expected to be between 20% and 30%. Its aim is to improve the efficiency of supply activities by introducing a competitive process and using private sector expertise. The supply chain project will allow DND and the Canadian forces to get access to critical logistics expertise, innovation and leading edge technologies.
I can assure the House that the Department of National Defence continues to make progress on various ASD initiatives. It will continue to consult closely with all stakeholders, including unions and employees.
The department is committed to proceeding in a way that is as fair and as—