National Defence committee  I will leave it to my colleagues to answer specifically about the development of the statement of requirements, but the Department of Public Works was notified earlier this year.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  I'm going to address that question and then turn it over to my colleague to talk about some of the process for the development of the statement of requirements. Perhaps if I could, sir, I'll begin by just describing a little bit about the procurement process. As was mentioned earlier today, the formal part of the procurement process begins when a statement of requirements has been developed by our client and provided to us.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you mentioned, my name is Tom Ring, and I am the assistant deputy minister of the Acquisitions Branch at the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada. As many of you will know, Public Works and Government Services Canada operates as a common service agency for the Government of Canada.