OTTAWA—A senior official says the Defence Department will hire hundreds of new employees to help untangle the military’s snarled procurement system. National Defence currently has around 4,100 people working on procurement, but Patrick Finn, the assistant deputy minister of materiel, says he is aiming to increase that number by 10 per cent over the next year. The bigger challenge, Finn says, is in finding personnel with the experience and knowledge to manage complex, multibillion-dollar projects. The lack of such people has been cited by defence officials and experts as one of many hurdles impeding efforts to buy new equipment, such as fighter jets and warships. Many of those projects are now behind schedule and over budget, which poses a threat to the military’s long-term capabilities.

Source: thestar September 14, 2016 22:30 UTC