Of course.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for your invitation.
Accompanying me today are Mr. David Marshall, Deputy Minister of the Department of Public Works and Government Services, and Ms. Margaret Kenny,
who runs the office of greening government operations, which we call OGGO.
Again, thank you very much for inviting me.
To begin, I would like to discuss my department's central role in the greening of government and in military procurement—both areas that I know are of interest to this committee. I would also like to briefly mention some other timely developments.
With its wide range of real property, procurement and information technology activities, my department is uniquely positioned to contribute to real progress in protecting the environment.
PWGSC's Office of Greening Government Operations is overseen by Ms. Kenny, and has a mandate to accelerate the greening of government by working closely with other federal departments.
An important milestone was reached when the department partnered with Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada to develop the Government of Canada's policy on green government. The policy, which came into effect last April, directs that environmental performance considerations be incorporated into all stages of procurement, from planning and requirement definition to purchase, use, and ultimate disposal.
Green procurement itself isn't new. What is new is that rather than being made on a transactional basis by individual procurement officers, environmental performance considerations are now systematically embedded into the procurement processes of all departments and agencies, just as price, performance, availability, and quality are. This represents a fundamental change in how the government determines value for money.
Green procurement meshes well with other environmental initiatives underway in my department. For example, last June I opened a new, energy efficient, environmentally friendly, federal government building on Bel-Air Street in Montreal. This building is named after Normand Maurice, who is considered the father of recycling in Quebec. Built with recycled material from the previous building on this site, it uses geothermics and solar energy for heating and cooling, and rain water for the toilets. Thanks to these and other advances, operational costs will be 35% lower than for conventional buildings, while we expect energy costs to be cut in about half.
I invite committee members who happen to be travelling through Montreal to pay a visit to the Normand-Maurice building on Bel-Air Street.
I also encourage you to see 401 Burrard in Vancouver, a 19-storey office tower that represents a new generation of commercial office space, not only in terms of sustainability but also in terms of providing a healthier and more productive work environment.
All new federal office buildings must now meet the Canada Green Building Council's LEED gold level, and the LEED gold-level standard is also being sought for new long-term leases.
Although my department is not a significant owner of contaminated sites, it offers project management, as well as technical, procurement, and environmental services to federal departments carrying out cleanup projects across Canada.
The $400 million cleanup of the Sydney tar ponds and coke ovens that I announced a few weeks ago is a great example of this program in action, with the federal government contributing $280 million and the province $120 million. Up to 150 workers will be employed at peak construction times. I understand that the committee is considering a study of the greening of government operations; I would endorse such an initiative.
A second matter I'd like to talk about is military procurement, and the significant role my department plays in equipping Canada's military—everything from aircraft to uniforms.
In fact, the Department of National Defence accounts the more than half the business conducted by PWGSC each year. DND is responsible for identifying its requirements and specifications, while my department is responsible for the procurement. It is no secret that, after many years of negligence, the Canadian Forces requires new and better equipment. Given that our military personnel are operating in demanding and dangerous environments, we must ensure that they have the equipment they need.
Last June, the government announced 17 billion in planned procurements for the Canadian Forces, including the purchase of 2,300 medium-sized logistics trucks; 16 medium- to heavy-lift helicopters; four strategic lift aircraft; 17 tactical lift aircraft; and three supply ships.
Two weeks ago, the Government of Canada awarded a contract to the Boeing Company to procure four C-17 Globemaster III aircraft to provide a strategic capability for the Canadian Forces.
I want to assure this committee that all of our procurements are being managed in a fair, open and transparent fashion—in keeping with our government's commitment to accountability—and that they encourage competition by Canadian suppliers.
At the same time, our military's needs deserve to be met in a timely manner. The Department of National Defence has told us it takes, on average, about 15 years to move a major military procurement from the time a need is identified to full deployment in the field. That, you will agree with me, is unacceptable.
The Prime Minister has asked a group of ministers, including me, to review the situation and recommend how the process can be streamlined. In the meantime, we have been clear and open with Canadians about our acquisition priorities, our procurement methods, and the status of major projects. Uppermost in our minds are the needs of the men and women who every day put their lives on the line for Canadians; we make no apologies for that.
I'd like to turn quickly to something discussed during my last appearance. That is the department's new office of small and medium enterprises, set up to ensure that firms have fair opportunities to compete regardless of their size or location.
I am pleased to report that the response to this new initiative has been very gratifying. The office is already fielding more than 500 inquiries a month across Canada. Since April, when I launched the offices, 800 new firms per month have registered to do business with us, and a majority of these firms, I'm happy to report, are SMEs.
Our performance in terms of the value of contracts being won by SMEs exceeds that of the U.S., which has an explicit set-aside program for SMEs. While one-quarter of the value of U.S. contracts goes to SMEs, in Canada the proportion has grown higher.
We are also taking steps to address the challenges we are facing in managing the government's real estate. This is another area suffering from years of neglect. Many of our properties are aging and in dire need of work. In fact, our recapitalization needs are an estimated $4 billion.
PWGSC has hired experts from the private sector to study samples of its real property portfolio and to recommend how to meet these challenges more effectively. These firms will help us devise innovative strategies to allow PWGSC to meet accommodation requirements, generate savings, and ensure that these assets are properly maintained.
Madame Chair, the last area I'd like to mention is the development of a code of conduct for procurement. This code is another step forward in implementing the Federal Accountability Act and the action plan that goes with it. It will consolidate existing legal, regulatory, and policy requirements into a concise and transparent statement of the expectations government has of its employees and suppliers. The draft code can be found online and through MERX, and we invite the public to comment any time before March 7, 2007.
Madam Chair, there are many other developments I could talk about, but I'm sure that I will have the opportunity to do so during questions.