Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 115

Major-General Daniel Benjamin was the
founder and first Commander of the
Canadian Operational Support Command
(CANOSCOM). He proved to be instrumental
in developing a closer relationship with
DCC through deployable engineering support
in Jamaica and Afghanistan. He would
later become the Canadian Forces Chief
Military Engineer (CME) and Chief of Staff
(Infrastructure & Environment). He retired
from the CF in 2011 and subsequently
joined DCC as Vice-President, Operations,
Corporate Planning and Service Delivery.
A reallocation of responsibilities and authorities was
made to service line managers so that they could
operate independently of the business management
structure. However, the success of the matrix approach
called for complete collaboration and information sharing
between the two structures. Initially the traditional
regional structure remained dominant, but over time
the organization of the national service lines and the
regional structure were integrated successfully. associated with the current security environment. DCC
had to establish relationships with the new Canada
Command, Canadian Expeditionary Force Command
and the Canadian Operational Support Command
(CANOSCOM). Some of the new relationships formed
during this transitionary period, particularly with
CANOSCOM, were instrumental to DCC’s increased
involvement in support to deployed operations both in
Canada and abroad.

Responding to change
In accordance with the government’s new practice,
Ross Nicholls was invited in the fall of 2005 to appear
before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Government Operations and Estimates on the subject of
his proposed reappointment as President and CEO. The
committee members acknowledged the accomplishments
of the Corporation under his leadership, and, without
taking time for in camera discussion, as is usually the
case, unanimously supported his reappointment for a
further term. Undergoing reviews
As these changes progressed, the structure and
process of government continued to be reviewed. The
Federal Accountability Act came into force in December
2006, aiming to help ensure transparency and account-
ability for government organizations. At about the same
time, the Treasury Board Secretariat was examining the
governance framework for Crown corporations. In many
cases, DCC’s management had already anticipated the
requirements of all of these reviews—no major changes
were needed in response to any of the reports; however,
DCC used them to gauge its own processes, and to
continue improving them wherever appropriate.
In 2005–06, the Chief of Defence Staff led a transfor-
mation exercise to redefine the CF command and
control structure to suit a new focus on joint operations
and to improve response to the asymmetric threats
BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA
The Parliamentary Task Force on Procurement Reform
led by the Honourable Walt Lastewka, the Parliamentary
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