Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 80

that they had developed a controllable contracting process that—while high
in cost compared with comparable private sector development—had almost
totally eliminated risk.
In the end, it was decided to maintain the Crown corporation status of DCC
for an indefinite period and to consider DCC as part of the Public Works family,
responding to the Minister of Public Works. In part, DND felt that if DCC
disappeared, the Department would become one of several clients for Public
Works and would not receive the same high level or timeliness of service.
Lorne Atchison chaired a committee in late 1987 that was studying how to
deal with federal real property contracting. As a result of the committee’s
report, the architecture and engineering services of all departments except
DND were consolidated in PWC. Rumours circulated that DCC might well
be integrated into the Department, but this did not, in fact, come to pass.
In the mid-1980s, Deputy Prime Minister
Erik Nielsen chaired the Ministerial Task
Force on Program Review, a comprehensive
assessment of all federal spending. The
task force reaffirmed the relevance and
value of DCC as a Crown corporation and
its relationship with the Department of
National Defence.
In early 1988, a study group was formed to review the contracting practices of
PWC and DCC in order to “harmonize” federal architecture and engineering
services and contracting operations. Senior management agreed to work
together to present the industry with common documents and procedures,
and as far as possible to make use of identical forms, terms and conditions
in their dealings. By 1990, the integration of policies and practices had
been put into place with what were described as “very positive results.”
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BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA