National Defence committee  To meet the express demand. That's correct.

National Defence committee  That can happen, yes.

National Defence committee  Well, it's National Defence's own studies that have indicated there's a 30% gap.

National Defence committee  Yes. The ISSCF framework as applied to new equipment promises to provide exactly those types of cost savings and efficiencies that OWSM provides as well.

National Defence committee  I have two parts to this in terms of my answer. First, with respect to the information management system, we refer to the new departmental management information system that is being rolled out. We have seen evidence during the audit that in fact the system is being rolled out and that it is going to be a very good step in terms of being able to provide the department with the information it needs to manage its equipment.

National Defence committee  I'm sorry, I don't have a specific example. This was a statement that National Defence had made generally about the investment.

National Defence committee  That's correct.

National Defence committee  Well, in terms of a regular approach to budgeting, the national procurement budget, which funds the maintenance and repair of equipment, allocates about 70% of the express demand, so there is a gap of approximately 30% between the express demand for maintenance and repair among the armed forces and the amount that is actually budgeted.

National Defence committee  Oh yes. I think National Defence is the largest owner of equipment in the government.

National Defence committee  No, I'm sorry, I don't know that answer.

National Defence committee  The Canadian Forces is all about people and equipment. Without good, modern, up-to-date equipment, the Canadian Forces would be hampered in its ability to carry out its missions, its operations, and its training.

National Defence committee  Readiness is a product of trained soldiers, support, and equipment. New equipment provides the army, the navy, and the air force with the ability to carry out their operations, to make sure the soldiers are trained to be able to fulfill the operations. New equipment is fundamental to the operations of the armed forces.

National Defence committee  For those pieces of kit that are under the OWSM framework, they are achieving those results, according to National Defence, which you have cited. There is still a lot of equipment within the air force, the army, and the navy that is not operating under that contracting framework.

National Defence committee  I could refer members of the committee to page 19 in exhibit 5.3 of the chapter, if you have it in front of you. I'll use that as an example. In terms of the air force, we have the CC-130 Hercules, the CF-18 Hornet, the CP-140 Aurora, and the CH-146 Griffon. Some of these pieces of equipment have been around for more than 20 years and some for 30 years.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. I think the best example, as you have pointed out, is to be found in the helicopters chapter, where we noted that both the MHP and the Chinook helicopter acquisitions involved certain levels of development. Neither of these aircraft could be called “off the shelf”.