Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson says he hopes to have a plan outlining details of the move to the Carling Avenue site ready for presentation to government by the fall.
“We are still putting the plan together,” said Donaldson, who is vice chief of the defence staff. “It is one of the biggest moves I think ever in Canada of an organization.”
The Defence Department plans to spend more than $630 million preparing the former Nortel campus as the new home for around 10,000 of its employees. That cost is on top of the $208 million the federal government paid to buy the campus at 3500 Carling Ave.
Donaldson said the move would provide long-term savings that can be reinvested into the Canadian Forces as it revamps the military for the future.
“It’s around $50 million a year that the business case gave us in terms of avoiding rent and this sort of thing,” said Donaldson. “I think we can save a lot more. It’s going to be an evolving thing.”
DND and the Canadian Forces have 42 office locations in Ottawa and Gatineau, according to DND documents obtained by the Citizen.
DND is hoping the move to the Carling site will reduce the number of Defence Department and Canadian Forces locations in Ottawa and Gatineau to seven or less.
“Consolidating the majority of our NCR operations onto the Defence Campus will reduce operational and accommodation costs, strengthen departmental security, and enable us to work more efficiently and effectively,” DND officials pointed out in a previous email sent to the Citizen.
Seventy-two per cent of the military and Defence Department staff are in Ottawa, with 28 per cent in Gatineau, according to DND documents. DND plans to try to retain that ratio.
DND’s main headquarters, the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building on Colonel By Drive, as well as its facility on Star Top Road will continue to be used. The Pearkes building was originally intended for Transport Canada, but in 1974, became DND headquarters.
DND’s presence in the Louis St. Laurent building, the National Printing Bureau building and the Hotel de Ville building in Gatineau will continue.
As far as the other DND locations throughout Ottawa and Gatineau, the government will allow leases to run out. In some cases other federal departments will use the properties.
DND has not provided specific details on when it plans to move into the former Nortel site. A DND briefing note obtained by the Citizen through the Access to Information law noted that the move would happen “within the next 5 years.”
Donaldson said more specific dates would be included in the plan he will present to government. “My preference is to start moving in the next few years out to that campus,” he added.
Some DND employees and Canadian Forces personnel have voiced concern over the move, pointing out that many live in Orléans and the commute would be too long.
A June 2011 briefing note for the Defence Department’s Deputy Minister Robert Fonberg described the Carling Campus as a “relatively remote location.”
But Donaldson suggested the move is more than just about saving money.
“When you consolidate a workforce you have the potential to capture a lot more savings than simply avoiding rent,” he explained. “You also have the opportunity to create a work environment that is far more conducive, far more supportive of our workforce and far more conducive to the type of the challenging intellectual work we need to be doing in the future.”
The costs to prepare the site involve everything from creating new offices to installing secure computer networks. A new operational command building will also be located at the site. The complex has 12 buildings.
DND officials were, however, concerned that taxpayers would find out about the $623-million cost to refit the campus. Last year, DND officials claimed they did not know the cost of refitting the location.
But documents obtained by the Citizen show DND not only knew about the cost more than a year ago, but senior officials ordered references to it removed from public statements and documents. “Media, parliamentarians and Canadians will be focused on the cost to taxpayers for the acquisition of the Campus and the subsequent retro-fit costs,” noted a DND strategy document.
Such concerns were solved when Deputy Minister Fonberg stepped in. Fonberg’s assistant wrote that the deputy minister was concerned about telling the public about the price tag. According to an email, Fonberg asked, “Why are we using the $623m(illion) fit up cost? It is without context and will be a lightening rod!”
The cost was removed from DND public documents about the Nortel purchase. Late last year, Public Works acknowledged to Parliament the fit-up cost would be more than $600 million.
The campus consists of approximately 28 hectares that was owned by Nortel and 120 hectares leased from the National Capital Commission.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: DAVID PUGLIESE
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