The federal government’s new centralized military procurement arm plans to expand to about 400 workers — and may pull from the private sector to get there.
The Defence Investment Agency (DIA) currently has 85 employees, CEO Doug Guzman said at a meeting of the House of Commons committee on government operations Tuesday afternoon.
Guzman, a longtime investment banker and former co-worker of Prime Minister Mark Carney at Goldman Sachs, said he was the only outside employee hired to date.
But, as the special operating agency builds up to a full complement of staff “some distance down the road,” Guzman said he was open to bringing in help from the private sector.
“There is room for external expertise to come into the picture,” he said in response to questions from Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau.
Guzman said there was “no shortage of large corporations” with complex procurement systems.
“The assignment we’ve received is to have a look at the process that we’ve got today, and I think everyone is unanimous that it could be improved,” he said.
“So, a small number of folks from the outside who’ve got experience to come in and improve the process, I think would make good sense.”
Agency drawing from existing departments
So far the agency has pulled employees from three federal departments: Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and the Department of National Defence (DND).
Moving forward, that approach is expected to evolve.
“We would intend to supplement that over time with external expertise since the assignment is to innovate on the procurement side,” Guzman said.
Workers who have already transferred into the agency have brought their existing procurement files with them, senior assistant deputy minister Siobhan Harty said.
The transfer means a loss of capacity at the public servants’ former departments, though it does not change the net headcount.
For now, services such as quality control and risk management will be performed by PSPC on behalf of the new agency.
With time, the DIA will absorb those roles as well, Guzman said.
Canada ‘last to the party’
Among allies, Canada is “last to the party” in establishing a separate organization dedicated to defence procurement, Secretary of State Stephen Fuhr said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Decentralized defence procurement is just too slow, and it won’t meet the moment,” he said.
The federal government has faced heavy criticism over its sluggish process for replacing aging military equipment ranging from
pistols
to
fighter jets
.
Alongside Build Canada Homes and the Major Projects Office, the DIA is one of three special operating agencies brought in under Carney.
Fuhr said the organizational structure had allowed the new agency to be set up quickly while at the same time leaning on existing departments for resources.
The ultimate goal is for the DIA to “stand up on its own,” he said, pointing to recent
legislation that will establish Build Canada Homes as a Crown corporation
.
Fuhr did not indicate whether the government would take a similar approach with the DIA, but added officials would be discussing the future of the organization over the coming months.
