Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, December 11, 2020 -

Deficiencies in supply chain management often prevented National Defence from supplying the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) with materiel it required when needed, according to a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented yesterday by Kelly Block, Chair of the Committee.

In the spring of 2020, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a performance audit whose purpose was to determine whether National Defence delivered materiel items requested by CAF in a timely manner while avoiding needless transportation costs.

The audit found that CAF received materiel such as spare parts, uniforms, and rations later than the requested date 50% of the time; also, delays were frequently due to stock shortages. It also found that a large portion of the high-priority materiel requests were submitted as high priority without justification. Lastly, National Defence did not have adequate performance indicators to measure whether materiel was stocked at the right warehouses, or whether warehouses had sufficient stock to meet the needs of the military bases and units they were tasked with supporting.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee made four recommendations to help ensure that CAF gets the materiel it needs in an efficient and timely manner to meet its operational requirements.