Public Accounts committee  The question, I guess, is sort of one of general practice. Certainly I would say that the best practice, particularly for a purchase of this size, would be to say, what are the full costs of the actual acquisition of the jets, what are the costs of running and operating the jets,

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. The need to do life cycle costing on significant acquisitions of assets is, as we state in the report, normal practice of Treasury Board. In fact, it's normal practice of the Department of National Defence. So the full life cycle costing, understanding what an asset i

Public Accounts committee  As a general answer, Treasury Board policies need to be followed by every department.

Public Accounts committee  We certainly saw instances where Public Works was trying to get the information from National Defence. Public Works was trying to do due diligence. However as we state in the chapter, they were hampered by the fact that they were brought in late to the process. But then also, eve

Public Accounts committee  Yes, the other amount was a budget of $9 billion for the acquisition of the fighter jets.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The number of $25 billion was a number that was established by Defence that included both the purchase and the maintenance cost, and the budgets were approved through normal process.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. The documents that we saw, which were prepared by National Defence, indicated that they understood the need to do life cycle costing, and for the most part, indicated that they understood that the life cycle of these aircraft was going to be at least 30 years. I think

Public Accounts committee  I think the question would be best posed to the department. I can't really speak for the department. However, my understanding is that using 20 years was the normal practice of the department.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, for the record, the recommendation is contained in paragraph 2.77. I could read it for the record, or the members could refer to it, whatever you wish.

Public Accounts committee  No.

Public Accounts committee  We identified in the chapter that the budgets for the costing information were approved. That would have gone through the normal process. I don't have the information to tell you who, exactly, was at the table when that was done, but certainly that costing information did go thro

Public Accounts committee  Again, really, all I can respond to that question is that those budgets were approved. They went through the normal process, but I certainly don't have with me. I don't think I would even have access to information about who saw what when, other than to say that it went through n

Public Accounts committee  Paragraph 2.69 does state that, for example, “in 2008, a budget of CAN$16 billion was established to operate and sustain the F-35 over 20 years.” Again, I think that paragraph of the report indicates the amounts that were approved, that they were established budgets, and the time

Public Accounts committee  The audit was of the process up to the date stated in the chapter. Certainly, as of the time of the audit, no jets had been purchased.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. This was an audit that looked at the process up to this point in time. The decision was made on the basis that enough of the process had happened that an audit was able to be done. This was an important type of purchase, a significant amount of money, and therefore, t