Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Government plans independent review of how F-35 purchase program was handled

OTTAWA - The government is looking for an independent firm to review how the program to buy new stealth fighters was handled.

Public Works has issued a request for proposal for a company to study how things worked up to last June, when the government put the brakes on and set up a new body to handle the program.

The department says the review will look at whether the problems with the acquisition process uncovered by the auditor general last spring have been addressed.

It will also look at whether the process followed government rules and policies and recommend any needed changes to the process.

The review will focus only on the acquisition process and won't duplicate the work of KPMG, which has been commissioned to study the cost of the F-35 program.

Public Works expects to award a contract by December.

"This is one of several activities that need to be completed before conclusions about replacing the CF-18 will be presented to the government," Public Works said in a statement.

Last spring, the auditor general tore a strip off the government, accusing National Defence of hiding $10 billion in continuing costs for the fighter and Public Works of not doing enough homework to justify the purchase.

In the wake of that report, the government produced a seven-point plan that took responsibility for the plane away from National Defence, giving it to a secretariat at Public Works.

The sophisticated F-35 aircraft is proposed as a replacement for the aging fleet of CF-18 fighter-bombers, but has been dogged by teething problems and rising costs.

Original Article
Source: winnipeg free press
Author: The Canadian Press

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