National Fighter Procurement Secretariat to Table Department of National Defence Annual Report in Fall 2012

Government of Canada/Public Works — June 13, 2012

GATINEAU, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - June 13, 2012) - The National Fighter Procurement Secretariat (NFPS) has recommended, and the Government has agreed, to table the Department of National Defence annual update required by the seven-point action plan in Parliament during the fall of 2012.

The seven-point action plan announced in response to the April 3, 2012 Auditor General of Canada's report called for the Department of National Defence to table an update report through the Secretariat within 60 days of receipt of the annual costing forecast from the US-based Joint Project Office.

The Secretariat has recommended that the first annual update be tabled in Parliament during the fall of 2012. Careful consideration has been given to the sequencing of the work required. The update needs to meet three conditions: it needs to be complete, it needs to provide a full project update and it needs to be independently verified. These conditions cannot be satisfactorily met prior to the fall.

This additional time will allow for the completion of the independent review that will be commissioned by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and that will help set a consistent life-cycle costing framework that will be used to report costing estimates for this project. This will enable the Department of National Defence to more effectively report costs to Parliament and the public as well as ensure that the estimated life cycle costs associated with the program can be examined through an independent review process. For this reason, this year's annual update will not be tabled within the prescribed 60 days. Annual reports from 2013 on will be tabled in Parliament within a maximum of 60 days receipt of the annual costing forecasts from the US-based Joint Project Office.

The contract for this review will be administered by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Procurement information about the independent review work will soon be posted on the Government of Canada's tendering system hosted on MERX.

Please visit the National Fighter Procurement Secretariat website for additional information.

PWGSC news releases are also available on our Internet site at http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/medias-media/index-eng.html.

Contact Information

Media Relations
Public Works and Government Services Canada
819-956-2315