OTTAWA - An internal Defence Department audit has raised red flags about another major aircraft purchase that's failed to get off the ground.
In a report likely to add more fuel to the fire over the multibillion-dollar military helicopter mess and the purchase of stealth fighters, the department's Chief of Review Services found oversight lacking in the $3-billion Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue project.
The plan to buy 15 rescue planes has been kicking around the federal government for nearly a decade, with little to show for it.
The Forces' own internal auditor warns it was on the same shaky ground as the helicopters.
"Within each phase of DND risk management methodology, certain risk management practices were not in place in the project office," said the May 2009 review, obtained by The Canadian Press under the federal access-to-information law.
There was no detailed plan to manage risks over the life of the project and there was no method to assess the kinds of things that could go wrong.
"Ongoing monitoring of risks was not sufficiently documented," said the review.
The report reminded defence officials that keeping track of risks, such as possible cost overruns, was important information that needed to be passed along to decision-makers.
The criticism is similar to the systemic problems uncovered by Auditor General Sheila Fraser in the purchase of CH-148 Cyclone helicopters for maritime patrol and CH-147F Chinooks for army battlefield operations.
Both projects are years behind schedule and now expected to cost a combined $11 billion, almost double the original estimate.
Defence officials refused to comment on the audit, saying they were not yet prepared to discuss it publicly.
The report was also critical of some aspects of the project and questioned whether the fleet size was adequate.
"There is a risk of insufficient aircraft availability over the life of the fleet to meet (fixed-wing search and rescue) readiness standards," said the audit.
Unlike the helicopters, the fixed-wing search planes are nowhere on the horizon, despite promises from two governments and a requirement that critics say is urgent.
Paul Martin's Liberal government made replacement of the 40-year-old C-115 Buffalo aircraft a priority in the 2004 budget. But with the cost of the war in Afghanistan and allegations that the competition was fixed in favour of the Italian-built C-27J, the project has been in a perpetual holding pattern.
The office meant to oversee the purchase, which came in for the most criticism in the audit, was closed in 2006 but reopened in 2008. The first aircraft is not expected to arrive until 2014, but even that schedule is in doubt.
Government documents show the contract for the replacement was supposed to have been tendered last summer, but instead the Defence Department is still studying a National Research Council report, which was meant to cast an independent eye on the type of plane the air force should buy.
Capt. Isabelle Bresse, an air force spokeswoman, said the statement of requirements for the aircraft is still being rewritten and she can't comment.
New Democrat defence critic Jack Harris said the entire defence procurement system is in urgent need of overhaul.
Michael Byers, a military commentator from the University of British Columbia, said search-and-rescue planes are a bigger priority for Canadians than the F-35 stealth fighter.
"Search and rescue is an essential function of a sovereign state," said Byers, an Arctic expert. "It's about protecting ordinary Canadians who find themselves in peril. This is about us here at home."
He said the failure of both Conservative and Liberal governments has been "inexcusable" and their priorities are badly misplaced.
"We desperately need new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft," said Byers, who spoke Thursday at a Rideau Institute event.
"Certainly (the department's) priorities are skewed towards high-tech, interoperable, war-fighting capacity and lower down on the priority list is the protection of Canadians at home."
