TAB 2

Spring 2016 report to Union of National Defence Employees (UNDE) National Executive (NE) meeting on Real Property Operations (RP Ops)

The meetings when held by RP Ops is reported out in a timely fashion to the NE for furtherance to the Locals, so I will not repeat them here. There is however an expectation on my part, that these reports are being forwarded on to the locals.

The Commanding Officer(CO) is Col Kevin Horgan. He has responded to all questions in a timely manner and to what I assume is to our satisfaction as once answered, I have no or few, comments back.

Of course, the whole P3 situation falls out of this organization and is being challenged by the UNDE, as reported out separately. And further to that report, I met with the Esquimalt MP – Randall Garrison (NDP) and presented him with an information package and asked for his intervention as that party’s critic for National Defence. I am pleased to report out that he gets our concerns and he will take on the government. He was also interested in DND’s statement concerning asbestos and not following PSPC’s leadership role concerning it.

We likewise look forward to having the UMCCs reactivated so all concerns can be aired and actioned in a proper forum. The current meeting, while interesting is not the correct vehicle for the union’s concerns.

In conclusion; below is a series of Q &As I have received from the field and have asked Col Horgan to address. The replies came in after my last RP Ops report out to the field.

  • 5 Wing Goose is asking how much bigger DCC will get-they are hearing another 5 bodies? Why them and not PS employees? A)Goose Bay – not sure what the DCC numbers in GB will be but any growth will be temporary as it is tied to Federal Infra funding. The why is because they can bring folks in quickly and they can easily let them go when the funding ends. We do not do that well in our system;
  • A DCC RFP was out to replace a retiring Fridge Tech in Kingston, why? A)There may be an RFP on the street in Kingston but it is not in direct relation to a retiring member of our staff;
  • A Member in Kingston reported that he has heard that DCC will be taking over all DND and RMC building maintenance. Any comment? A) DCC will not be taking over all building maintenance in Kingston;

A Borden Member has had a bad experience with asbestos exposure. He has asked for reassurance that in future similar cases be investigated with the utmost diligence and that all H&S rules and policies be properly enacted. A)For the Borden case I will send to the Region to review. I agree that we have the obligation to follow all applicable OHS policies and an obligation as leaders to look after our staff within the limits of TB policy;

(separate e-mail follow up)

Mark, Assuming the comment on Borden and asbestos are the same event as detailed below, then it appears the Det has taken the appropriate steps once the asbestos was uncovered.

Col / col Kevin Horgan, P.Eng

Commander, CF Real Property Operations Group | Director General Fire and Nuclear Safety

Canadian Armed Forces

/ Tel: 613-943-7980 / CSN: 943-7980Enabling Operational Success

Commandant, Groupe des opérations immobilières FC | Directeur général Protection incendie et Sûreté nucléaire

Forces Armées Canadiennes

/ Tél. : 613 943-7980 / RCCC : 943-7980Favoriser la réussite opérationnelle

From: Saunders LCol DD@RPOU (O) HQ@Toronto
Sent: April-29-16 4:36 PM
To: Horgan Col KG@ADM(IE) CF RP Ops Gp@Ottawa-Hull
Subject: Fw: Questions

Sir,

Details on the Borden asbestos exposure below.

D.D.Saunders
LCol
CORPOU(O)/CmdtUOI(O)
416455-0887
SentfrommyBlackBerry10smartphoneontheRogersnetwork.

From: Crawley Maj CF@RPO Det (Borden)@Borden <
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 3:16 PM
To: Saunders LCol DD@RPOU (O) HQ@Toronto
Subject: Re: Questions

Sir,
During a hangar door job in A-175 asbestos was identified so work stopped and asbestos encapsulated. ESDC was here and satisfied with way fwd - annual asbestos brief w trades and improved DS identification process to contractors. SOW being developed to address appropriately.
Maj CF Crawley
Sent from my wireless handheld device / Transmis de mon appareil portable

From: Saunders LCol DD@RPOU (O) HQ@Toronto
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 12:21 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Crawley Maj CF@RPO Det (Borden)@Borden
Subject: Fw: Questions

Craig,

Any info on the asbestos claims described below?

D.D.Saunders
LCol
CORPOU(O)/CmdtUOI(O)
416455-0887
SentfrommyBlackBerry10smartphoneontheRogersnetwork.

From: Horgan Col KG@ADM(IE) CF RP Ops Gp@Ottawa-Hull <
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 10:27 AM
To: Saunders LCol DD@RPOU (O) HQ@Toronto
Subject: FW: Questions

Don,

Are you aware of the background on the item below from Borden?

Col / col Kevin Horgan, P.Eng

Commander, CF Real Property Operations Group | Director General Fire and Nuclear Safety

  • Is a new barrack block in Borden going to be a P3 enterprise even though it is under the 100 million dollar threshold? A) The Borden P3 case involves three quarter projects that total well over the $100M mark. As per the other project it is only in analysis and has not been approved and has not yet been seen or endorsed by the MND. Also it has not yet been shown that it makes sense.

Separate e-mail question below

  • Mark,Other than saying this is not the case, I am not sure what I can say. The environment will certainly be a friction point as we establish RP Ops and work through the details of the SLAs but there is no plan to replace anyone. DCC may very well get used to support because the current workforce cannot support the work load and we have not been authorized to expand our workforce but are expected to do the work. Also note that DRPPM is within ADM(IE) but is not part of RP Ops. I realize too many we are all one thing but I do not control the direction being provided from DRPPM.

Col / col Kevin Horgan, P.Eng

  • Commander, CF Real Property Operations Group | Director General Fire and Nuclear Safety
  • Canadian Armed Forces
  • / Tel: 613-943-7980 / CSN: 943-7980Enabling Operational Success
  • Commandant, Groupe des opérations immobilières FC | Directeur général Protection incendie et Sûreté nucléaire
  • Forces Armées Canadiennes
  • / Tél. : 613 943-7980 / RCCC : 943-7980Favoriser la réussite opérationnelle
  • From: Mark M [mailto:
    Sent: April-29-16 12:31 PM
    To: Horgan Col KG@ADM(IE) CF RP Ops Gp@Ottawa-Hull
    Subject: FW: Impacts to Environment Staff jobs
    Importance: High
  • As mentioned previously. Can you please respond to the questions and concerns detailed below? tmm
  • From: vp.bc [mailto:
    Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 9:26 AM
    To: T Mark Miller
    Subject: FW: Impacts to Environment Staff jobs
    Importance: High
  • From:
    Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2016 7:51 AM
    To: vp.bc
    Cc:;
    Subject: FW: Impacts to Environment Staff jobs
  • Brother, please see comments below from our Environment Officer here at 4 Wing Cold Lake.
  • She raises some valid points and concerns wrt the direction RP Ops seems to be going with Environment.
  • Your comments/input would be appreciated, as I know you have a direct link to the CoC.
  • Thanks in advance.
  • Brenda Ebear
  • UNDE VP Alberta & the North
  • 4 Wing | 4ème Escadre
  • Department of National Defence | Département de la Défense nationale
  • Cold Lake AB, Canada T9M 2C6
  • Telephone | Téléphone 780-840-8000 ext 8432
  • Cell phone (780) 207-7152 / Fax (780) 840-6867
  • Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada
  • From: Lawson SL@WEnv@Cold Lake
    Sent: April-27-16 8:29 AM
    To: Ebear BL@WCE@Cold Lake; Desmarais MG@WCE@Cold Lake
    Cc: Gurski K@WEnv@Cold Lake; Langley SL@WLE@Cold Lake; McDonald DJ@WLE@Cold Lake; Palmer L@WEnv@Cold Lake
    Subject: Impacts to Environment Staff jobs
    Importance: High
  • Marc and Brenda,
  • Background: with RP Ops transformation many of the Wing assets and services such as environment are part of an Service Level Agreement between the local Wings/Bases and RP Ops. This is because apparently RP Ops is now responsible for all the land and infrastructure. Unfortunately with environment there has been almost zero consultation with local environment staff and we are essentially being forced to support incredibly vague SLA’s. 1 CAD Div Environment is not at all supportive at all in my opinion of Wing/Base Environment Staff or protecting our jobs. I believe we need to have very specific SLA that outline what RP Ops does and what Environment Staff do. I have had so much push back on this and now I believe it is being done so that RP Ops can replace Environment Staff with DCC. This was always what many of us believed was the intention of transformation.
  • More recently we are starting to see this happen and the first part of the environment program being carved off to DCC is contaminated sites (CS).
  • Please see the below email the yellow highlighted wording is what I find very concerning. This email is from the ED of DRPPM I find this incredibly concerning as many Environment Staff across the country belong to PSCAC and are in the EG classification. I also find it somewhat concerning that 1 CAD Div Env had this email for almost a month before they shared it with national Env O’s and staff.
  • I have also attached a Table of Contaminated Sites (CS) work and how DRPPM has dictated the roles for some of the CS work my staff and many environment staff (EG’s) across the country do. This work is part of many environment staffs work descriptions EG’s and PC’s.
  • This will likely only be the first step by ADM(IE) RP Ops to transfer all aspects of our environment programs to a 3rd party of their choosing, DCC. Over the last few months I have seen an increase in DCC jobs being advertised on the jobs.gc.c.a website. Recently in Cold Lake there was 4 advertised positions. Although none were specifically for environmental staff there are several new people at the local DCC office conducting environmental “project management” and environmental services that can be provided by myself and my staff and are in fact in our work descriptions.
  • I believe this is a national issue for all Wing and Base environment and hazardous materials staff regardless of which branch Army, Navy, Air Force we work for or what union we belong to. This direction directly impacts our job descriptions which will need to be re-written and leans toward signs of being work force adjusted and potentially wrongfully dismissed.
  • I will be contacting PIPSC and will be getting in touch with a labour relationships rep from PIPSC as apparently engineering staff in Ontario are already experiencing the transfer of their job duties to DCC.
  • Can you both please bring this up with at a national level with PSAC.
  • Shona Lawson, M.Sc., P. Biol., RPBio.
  • Environment Officer, 4 Wing Cold Lake
  • National Defence, Government of Canada
  • / Tel.: 780-840-8000 x 8430 / Cel.:780-813-0674 / TTY: 1-800-467-9877
  • From: McManus JB@A4 CE@Winnipeg
    Sent: April-20-16 1:01 PM
    To: Goulden MA@CFB Comox WLE@Comox; Naish VL@CFB Comox WLE@Comox; Beckles CC@CFB Winnipeg Det Dundurn ENVIRO@Dundurn; Lawson SL@WEnv@Cold Lake; Gurski K@WEnv@Cold Lake; Dettman MR@WCE@Winnipeg; Pike EC@9 Wg LE@Gander; Roy SP@22 Wg WATS WLE@North Bay; Lajoie M@Logistique@Bagotville; Lepage S@Logistique@Bagotville; Cooney C@5 Wing@Goose Bay; Craig DA@CFB Trenton WENV@Trenton; McRae C @CFB Trenton WEnv@Trenton; Sauveur SC@WLEO WEnv@Greenwood
    Cc: Wheeler LE@1 Cdn Air Div HQ A4 CE@Winnipeg; Simonite KG@A4 CE@Winnipeg
    Subject: FW: Administrative site closure and accelerated assessment work for CS 2016-2018 - Fermeture administrative de site et accélération des travaux d'évaluation pour les SC 2016-2018
  • Good afternoon,
  • This is an update on the items listed below. We were on a conference call this afternoon to discuss how the site closures and accelerated assessment program would roll out. This is an ADM(IE) initiative lead by DRPPM and supported by DCC at the national level. The WEnvOs will be involved in their advisor role, and Ken and I will support the initiatives as much as required.
  • Over the next day or two Ken or I will contact you and will provide you with the lists of potential sites that has been put forward for your individual Wing. If you have any questions, please contact us.
  • Thank you,
  • Jacki
  • From: Crain PR@ADM(IE) DG P Reqts@Ottawa-Hull
    Sent: March-31-16 7:27 AM
    To: Appleton LCdr SH@C Navy Nav Compt@Ottawa-Hull; Sattar S@ADM(IM) DPDCS@Ottawa-Hull; Wheeler LE@1 Cdn Air Div HQ A4 CE@Winnipeg; Guay E@ADM(IE) DRPPM@Ottawa-Hull
    Cc: Herbert AE@CFHA Infrastructure and Technical Services@Ottawa-Hull; Stephen-Orser ML@ADM(IE) DCLSPD@Ottawa-Hull; Gregoire J@C Army DLE@Ottawa-Hull; McManus JB@A4 CE@Winnipeg; ; Boivin Capt AA@ADM(IE) CF RP Ops Gp@Ottawa-Hull; Richard TL@CMP D Mil Pers Staff@Ottawa-Hull; Smith GB@FSE@Esquimalt; Giffin CL@Marlant HQ N48 Formation Safety and Environment@Halifax; Beland-Pelletier C@ADM(IE) DRPPM@Ottawa-Hull; Grenier SB@ADM(IE) DRPPM@Ottawa-Hull; Cowan SM@ADM(IE) DRPPM@Ottawa-Hull; Bhachoo J@ADM(IE) DRPPM@Ottawa-Hull; Panchuk KA@ADM(Mat) DCOS(Mat)@Ottawa-Hull; Sanders, Nick
    Subject: Administrative site closure and accelerated assessment work for CS 2016-2018 - Fermeture administrative de site et accélération des travaux d'évaluation pour les SC 2016-2018
  • Le français suit
  • Dear colleagues,
  • Challenged by the Auditor General of Canada and the Chief of Review Services over the last couple of years, DND’s Contaminated Sites (CS) Programme, (within DRPPM), needed to develop strategies to address their concerns. It is now time to implement those strategies and I’m asking your support to help us to do so.
  • Over the last few months, DND’s CS Programme planned, in collaboration with your teams, two initiatives to assist with the management of the DND CS inventory, (found in the Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory (FCSI). Following the last Federal Budget, it is now possible to launch those initiatives. While DND continues to fund and support the management of high priorities sites, these new initiatives are also required to support the management of the remaining contaminated sites inventory.
  • With these two plans, we hope to reduce, over the next two years, our active CS inventoryby 50% and our liability.
  • 1st initiative: Administrative closure of low priority/not a priority active sites
  • The CS Programme will lead, over the next two FY’s, an initiative to administratively close 400 low/not a priority active sites (Class 3 and N). The site closures will follow the Decision-Making Framework and the Contaminated Site Closure tool recently developed.
  • With this plan, we will be collecting files, write closure reports and make required DRMIS updates for each site closure. Collecting the documents will require some support from the L1s or Env Os and to support this process, DRPPM has allocated Service Level Agreement funds for DCC support. We will work closely with your programme specialists, Env Os and local DCC to maximize the use of DCC and minimize the work from your specialists.
  • 2nd initiative: Accelerated assessment work
  • The CS Programme will also expedite over the next two FY’s the assessment of over 300 suspected sites listed in the FCSI. To complete this centrally driven initiative, the programme will once again work closely with your programme specialists, Env Os and local DCC support to make sure we address L1s and departmental priorities. With this plan we want to maximise the use of our FCSAP remediation funds before the end of FCSAP Phase III and reduce our CS inventory and liability.
  • The CS Programme will contact your L1s specialist to confirm the lists of sites for closure and for assessment and to launch those initiatives as early as possible in the new FY. A conference call will be organized in a near future to answer questions that you could have.
  • In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact Eric Guay, DND’s CS Programme Manager.
  • *************************
  • Chers collègues,
    Mis au défi par le Vérificateur général du Canada et le Chef des services d'examen au cours des deux dernières années, le Programme des sites contaminés du MDN (Programme SC), (au sein de DBIGP), a dû élaborer des stratégies pour répondre à leurs préoccupations. Il est maintenant temps de mettre en œuvre ces stratégies et je demande votre soutien pour nous aider à le faire.
    Au cours des derniers mois, le Programme SC du MDN a élaboré, en collaboration avec vos équipes, deux initiatives pour aider à la gestion de l'inventaire des SC du MDN, (listé dans l'Inventaire des sites contaminés fédéraux (FCSI). Depuis le dernier budget fédéral, il est maintenant possible de lancer ces initiatives. Bien que le MDN continue de financer et de soutenir la gestion des sites de priorités élevées, ces nouvelles initiatives sont également nécessaires pour gérer le reste de l’inventaire des sites contaminés actifs.
    Avec ces deux plans, nous espérons réduire, au cours des deux prochaines années, de 50% notre inventaire de SC actifs ainsi que notre passif.
    1ère initiative: Fermeture administrative des sites actifs à faible priorité / pas une priorité
    Le Programme SC conduira, au cours des deux prochaines AF, une initiative visant à fermer administrativement 400 sites actifs de faible priorité (classe 3 et N). Les fermetures de sites suivront le Processus décisionnel pour les SC du MDN et l'outil de fermeture de SC récemment mis au point.
    Avec ce plan, nous allons recueillir des fichiers, rédiger des rapports de fermeture et faire des mises à jour au SIGRD requis pour chaque fermeture du site. Pour la collecte des documents, il nous faudra un certain soutien des N1s et Os Env. Pour minimiser l’impact sur vos organisations, la DBIGP a établi un accord de niveau de service avec CDC. Nous allons travailler en étroite collaboration avec vos spécialistes du programme, vos Os Env et les sections locales de CDC afin de maximiser leur utilisation et minimiser le travail nécessaire de vos spécialistes.
    2e initiative: Accélération des travaux d'évaluation
    Le programme de SC accélérera également l'évaluation de sites suspects, dans les deux prochaines AF, afin de caractériser plus de 300 sites répertoriés dans ISCF. Pour compléter cette initiative centrale, le programme travaillera également en collaboration avec vos spécialistes de programme, Os Env et avec le soutien de CDC local, pour nous assurer que nous traitons les priorités ministérielles et de N1s. Avec ce plan, nous voulons, entre-autre, maximiser l'utilisation de nos fonds d'assainissement du PASCF avant la fin de la phase III et ce afin de réduire notre inventaire de SC et notre passif.
    Le Programme SC contactera prochainement vos spécialistes pour confirmer les listes de sites pour fermeture et pour évaluation afin de lancer ces initiatives aussitôt que possible dans le nouvel exercice financier. Une conférence téléphonique sera organisée dans un proche avenir pour répondre aux questions que vous pourriez avoir.
    En attendant, si vous avez des questions, s'il vous plaît contacter Eric Guay, responsable du programme des SC du MDN.
  • P.R. Crain
  • Executive Director
  • Real Property Programmes
  • ADM IE
  • 1-613-992-1499

Respectfully submitted by T. Mark Miller Vice President for British Columbia (VP/BC)