Government Operations committee  In part they do. This was formed, actually, when I got into the job.

Government Operations committee  They advise on a few things. They will tell us about the Canadian industrial base and we're very careful—

Government Operations committee  May I finish with the answer, please?

Government Operations committee  I haven't actually.

Government Operations committee  I think your original question was why it was formed.

Government Operations committee  We talk to the defence ministry advisory group about defence procurement writ large. We don't get into specific projects for a very good reason, which is that many of the companies that are there are bidders. We speak to them about defence procurement, its processes, industry eng

Government Operations committee  Canada is a little bit late to the game on this one. The benefit of that, though, is that we get to look at models that have been tried, tested, and not done so well. There are now models on the market for electronic procurement buying. There are several at the municipal, territo

Government Operations committee  Exactly. Quite frankly, it will force a rigour and discipline that we don't see right now. We have delegated to other departments the ability to contract for 80%. They do the high volume but lower value contracting, and that's appropriate. They should do it. We are going to try t

Government Operations committee  I'm not aware of meetings that been held at the political level, but I can tell you that I have met with Lockheed Martin and other major suppliers as part of my daily job. I meet with the AIC industry associations. I should say that most of the major suppliers that are here in Ca

Government Operations committee  I would add as well that I meet with Lockheed Martin and other major suppliers as part of my job often. We also have the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and several of its members as part of our defence industry advisory committee. At an officials level, we consult wi

Government Operations committee  I see them often when I'm in the shipyard.

Government Operations committee  I will ask my colleague Mr. Hutchinson to answer though because it is his responsibility.

Government Operations committee  Forgive me, to your point, the task formula or way of doing things allows us to control costs. As Mr. Finn said, there's not an infinite amount of money out there. The contract is put in place, and we only use it when we've negotiated and agreed on the work to be done.

Government Operations committee  It would have been in October 2015.

Government Operations committee  It's an interesting evolution as Canada is learning from early budget estimates that may have to be adjusted over time what the best way is to conduct this kind of work, as Mr. Finn said, for long complex projects. The view is becoming that it's better when you have a robust data