Defence Infrastructure

by Ranger Tue 03 Mar 2020, 8:02 am

Feds short hundreds of million in repair, maintenance
of defence infrastructure

Lee Berthiaume
The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, March 3, 20

OTTAWA -- The federal government has been chronically underspending on the repair and maintenance of Canada's defence infrastructure for years, leaving officials to play catch-up on maintaining aging roads, runways, jetties and thousands of buildings across the country.

The Defence Department official responsible for infrastructure says efforts are underway to better manage the portfolio, and that his priority is ensuring the health and safety of service members and that military training and operations are not disrupted.

"We're not accepting risk that's going to put health and safety in danger," said Rob Chambers, assistant deputy minister of infrastructure and environment.

"So we're constantly adjusting as we go. It's an ongoing discussion right now about how to address the overall portfolio."

The chronic underinvestment nonetheless raises questions about the continued deterioration of Canada's defence infrastructure and the tough choices officials have to make when deciding where to invest scarce dollars for property maintenance and repair.

The Defence Department has the largest infrastructure portfolio of all federal departments, with 20,000 buildings, 5,500 kilometres of roads and 3,000 kilometres of sewers and pipes for water and heat. The majority is located on Army, Navy and Air Force bases across Canada.

The department is supposed to invest 1.4 per cent of the replacement value of the portfolio in maintenance and repair each year, which is based on industry standards. That works out to around $364 million, based on the current $26-billion replacement value.

Yet reports and figures from the Defence Department and the federal auditor general show the target has not been hit since at least 2010. The closest was in 2016-17, when it reached 1.31 per cent. The government invested 1.05 per cent last year.

While defence officials could not say exactly how much of a repair and maintenance backlog the department is facing because of underspending over the years, departmental figures show a cumulative shortfall of $247 million since 2015-16 alone.

An internal audit published in May 2016 looked only at the sewers, roads and electrical, heating and drinking water systems on military bases -- more than half of which was over 50 years old -- and determined the cumulative backlog for only those areas was at least $1.1 billion by 2018.

In real terms, the audit warned of electrical outages, sewer backups and other service disruptions at military bases, adding that could threaten operations as well as the health and welfare of those living or working on or near the bases.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Chambers said officials "do the best we can with what we have," with the priority on ensuring the health and safety of service members, compliance with building codes and standards, and supporting military operations.

"Sometimes we have to make trade-offs between keeping a runway running versus keeping an office building running," he said. "So sometimes we make trade-offs there. But on the whole, we're able to keep the plane flying because we're able to make those kinds of adjustments."

Chambers pointed to recent changes within the Defence Department and military as reasons for optimism, chief among them a decision in 2016 to centralize the management of all military infrastructure in his office.

That centralization allows for much-needed flexibility in deciding where to spend maintenance and repair money across the Defence Department and military, Chambers said -- flexibility that didn't exist when infrastructure management was spread across the military.

Yet the centralization effort is still a work in progress four years later, with Chambers's staff gathering information on all 20,000 buildings and other infrastructure, including their current state. Officials said that is why they could not offer a dollar figure for the overall repair backlog.

In the meantime, "if we continue to need an asset and it's not in acceptable condition, then we'll either fix it or we'll come up with an alternative," Chambers said.

That new flexibility means the department is "often able to avoid those kinds of black and white, this fails or that fails," he said.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/feds-short-hundreds-of-million-in-repair-maintenance-of-defence-infrastructure-1.4836209

by Covert Mon 04 Apr 2022, 9:21 am

Petawawa's $60-million military medical complex to open this summer after three-year delay

The project went off the rails in 2019, the year the complex was supposed to open, when the main contractor ran into financial difficulties.

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Apr 04, 2022

A new medical complex that cost taxpayers $60 million and was supposed to be open in 2019 at the Canadian military base in Petawawa remains closed.

But the Department of National Defence says it hopes to have the 9,740-square-metre facility fully operating by the end of summer.

The complex was originally touted as bringing medical, dental and mental health care services together in one centrally located building at Garrison Petawawa. The facility would also have a pharmacy and provide physiotherapy and radiology services. This “one-stop-shop” approach was seen as an example of National Defence providing top-notch health services to military personnel while making the best use of tax dollars.

But the health services centre project went off the rails the year the complex was supposed to open after the main contractor, Bondfield Construction, ran into financial difficulties. Bondfield had been awarded a $30.6-million construction contract for the facility in 2016.

In 2019, the firm entered into bankruptcy protection.

“While work at the facility is ongoing, we have faced project delays of approximately three years, mostly due to the Bondfield Construction’s court filing under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in March 2019,” National Defence spokesperson Dan Le Bouthillier said. “Although Bondfield finished a majority of the required work, we had to issue several smaller contracts to finish the work.”

Supply chain shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to delays, Le Bouthillier added.

When then-Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was asked at the House of Commons defence committee in March 2020 about the status of the construction project, he acknowledged Bondfield’s insolvency but said the health-care facility was 93 per cent completed.

Rob Chambers, an assistant deputy minister at National Defence, told the Commons committee the complex would be completed in June 2020.

In February 2021, Defence Construction Canada, the Crown Corporation involved in the project, said the health centre would be completed in October of that year.

“DCC has been able to provide DND with support to keep the project progressing in good time,” Arthur Humble, DCC Program Leader at CFB Petawawa, explained in the corporation’s public-relations material. “Now, we’re looking forward to welcoming both the professionals who will be providing services and those who will benefit from them.”

That October 2021 opening never happened. Le Bouthillier said the complex was now expected to be ready this summer and fully open by August.

“The success of Canada’s defence depends on our people,” Le Bouthillier noted. “Canadian Armed Forces members are devoted to serving their country, and we are equally committed to our duty to improve the assistance, services and care we provide them and their families.”

Currently, health-care services at Garrison Petawawa are provided from four different locations on the base. The new health complex will consolidate those into one location.

While the original contract to Bondfield was for $30.6 million, the overall project is costing taxpayers $60 million. That includes equipment and furnishings, project management and government contracting agency costs, design and engineering fees, demolition costs, telecommunications and security fees.

Le Bouthillier said recent comments on social media that the centre wasn’t structurally sound were not true. “There are no issues with the structural integrity of this facility,” he added.

Garrison Petawawa has seen hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction. That includes a special forces facility, a military family resource centre, a communications and information systems building and other structures.

Defence Minister Anita Anand has asked the Canadian military to come up with further new construction and equipment programs as she pushes the Liberal government to spend billions of dollars more on defence.

Anand says she will present “aggressive options” to boost the current $23-billion military budget. Spending details could be revealed this coming Thursday, when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland reveals the Liberal government’s latest budget.

Critics, however, warn that, over the past several years, billions of tax dollars have been wasted on military equipment projects that have skyrocketed in price.

Anand, previously the minister in charge of federal procurement, did nothing to try to fix that ongoing problem, the critics add.

Defence Watch

Defence Infrastructure

Defence Infrastructure

Re: Defence Infrastructure