Government Operations committee  We spend a fair bit of time learning from and sharing best practices with like jurisdictions. In some cases, they look to us, and in others, we look to them. I think our e-procurement solution is going to do a lot for us. It's going to mean that a lot of things we are now paying people to do will be automated, and we'll be able to look at data in the aggregate to leverage the federal spend.

Government Operations committee  I would echo that. We work very closely at the official level, at the senior official level, in integrated teams, and we do this for all of our client departments. DND is the biggest one, but there's also the Coast Guard, for whom we are an important buyer. I would say as well that we looked at international models to make sure that Canada is in line with its counterparts in terms of what it's buying for the size of our country, for the size of our forces.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I will clarify a few things for you. I would like to repeat what I said earlier. The contract related to the horizontal engineering program plan has not been used for infrastructure. Those are really engineering processes....

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I also want to remind you that the process for selecting the two main shipyards was competitive and that the then auditor general....

Government Operations committee  Just to clarify, the way the Canadian government procurement process is structured, the Department of National Defence decides on the capability it needs and its requirements, and then it comes to us, Public Services and Procurement Canada. We go to industry, see what is on the market, and make recommendations to the government on that basis.

Government Operations committee  I will start and then perhaps turn it over to Mr. Finn. You are right that military procurement gets a lot of focus and interest, in part because we try to do so much with it. At its root, it is about buying the best equipment for our Canadian Forces. We also try to leverage it for industrial benefit, achieve competition, and achieve best value.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I would just say that the government remains committed to building a more agile, better equipped military while ensuring best value for Canada. This partnership, the MOU specifically with JSF, doesn't commit Canada to any particular option. What it does is it gives some industrial benefits to Canada while it decides what its requirements are.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your comments. Funding from the government's horizontal engineering program plan was not used to fund Seaspan's shipyard infrastructure improvements. Its infrastructure improvements of $170 million were made at zero cost to Canada. It'll be building several different types of ships for the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy, as I said earlier.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I'm going to ask my colleague Mr. Finn to respond to that.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much for the question. As our minister recently mentioned at the CANSEC conference, we use five elements to strengthen our capacities and address the challenges. It's true that we have not built any vessels in Canada in 30 years, while we were investing in our staff.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. I can answer that question. That's exactly right. The Government of Canada has not invested any money into modernizing the infrastructure. I believe that you are referring to a contract called the horizontal engineering program plan. The construction program in the west focuses on several types of vessels, built in small numbers, intended for two different institutions, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy.

Government Operations committee  We're talking about the work program in Vancouver. It covers a number of ships intended for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard. Mr. Finn, would you like to say anything?

Government Operations committee  Go ahead, Mr. Hutchinson.

Government Operations committee  Thank you and good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and committee members. My name is Lisa Campbell. I am the assistant deputy minister of defence and marine procurement at Public Services and Procurement Canada. I am accompanied by Patrick Finn, assistant deputy minister, materiel, from the Department of National Defence; and by Jeffery Hutchinson, deputy commissioner, strategy and shipbuilding, from the Canadian Coast Guard.