DEFENCE Procurement BREAKDOWN

ADGA Group is known for helping the Canadian Armed Forces train its members by delivering simulation, virtual reality and command and control systems. However, the company is challenging the government on newly introduced defence procurement requirements that exclude some of Canada’s most hardworking individuals – veterans.

BY MARC MONTGOMERY

Simulation systems, training software, cyber security, command and control infrastructure, R&D into machine learning and AI, these are some of the services provided by Ottawa’s ADGA Group. 

Since its creation in 1967 as Andre Denis Gagnon Associates, this Canadian company has been offering its tech services primarily to the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), but also national security agencies and various other public safety organisations including the RCMP, Corrections Canada, and Shared Services Canada.

ADGA has also contributed significant integrated security work and cyber protection on the Canadian Surface Combatant project, and has also developed simulation software for training on LAV’s, Griffon helicopters, and recently displayed their tank turret simulation at CANSEC 2024.

They also developed AMARI, a next-generation machine learning platform for deriving actionable intelligence from earth observation datasets. It autonomously de-clutters information in near real time to provide relevant data for superiority in decision making. Another ADGA innovation is MedCoach, an application which provides medical diagnoses and procedures in remote, difficult communications situations where immediate treatment is critical.

DEFENCE PROCUREMENT CHANGES

Despite the company’s adoption and integration of new and emerging technology, ADGA has found the past year to be somewhat challenging, but not for the reasons one might think. According to ADGA’s President and CEO, Shaun McEwan, the issues stem from changes to Canada’s defence procurement system that took place in January 2024. He tells CDR that these recent government decisions have posed new challenges for his company and the wider defence industry.

First, the government procurement models have, “become a little tighter, a little more scripted and it takes longer to get decisions made,” McEwan told CDR. Then came a billion-dollar budget cut to DND that, “showed up out of the blue,” with its obvious effects on procurement. 

While the world becomes more fluid and more agile, the government seems to be moving to stricter requirements and is looking to “tick boxes,” when it comes to defence procurement. To McEwan, this signals a lack of trust with industry. Citing an old expression, McEwan says, “You compete for ‘commodities’, but you partner for trust and shared risk,” adding, “services has to be in the trust and shared risk category.”

Secondly, an even greater challenge is the new requirement for a university degree for individuals who work on government projects. McEwan feels this ‘ticking of boxes’ on a form reflects a commodity competition model and a degree does not equate to years of actual experience in the field, noting, “the two are not interchangeable.”

Approximately a quarter of ADGA’s 600 employees are retired service members with 20-40 years of experience in their respective fields. These are people who may be perfectly suited to work on a particular project and who are eager to solve operational challenges. McEwan says that without a degree however, some individuals are unfortunately excluded from the process – which is a real shame for the project as valuable insight and experience is lost.  

As if this new requirement for post secondary education was not enough, the government also included a requirement for “required physical location”. Previously, the employer had the exclusive right to designate the location of work, which allowed their employees to work remotely. However, with the new requirement, skilled veterans who are often spread across the country, need to be physically present in order to contribute to, or work on, a project. In a world where more and more companies are moving to remote or even hybrid working models, this new requirement seems to be based on a lack of trust rather than informed decision making.

“The services world is traditionally built on a Monday to Friday desk job, where staff can be observed working,” McEwan told CDR. “If we can get away from that degree of mistrust a little bit, the reality is ADGA is in a perfect position to deliver exactly what the DND and the CAF need and in a very timely and cost-effective manner.” He continued, “ADGA has been in regular contact with government officials at all levels on the issue of procurement reform as we believe there is a lack of trust within the procurement process. We need to start building that trust across industry, between industry participants, between industry and government and even within government itself.”

EXPERIENCE IS KING

McEwan points out that ADGA has access to a pool of individuals that possess diverse expertise and experience in fields such as programming, AI research, writing reports, requirements definitions, and RFP evaluations. These individuals can be called to work on programs that last days, weeks or even months. Also, their previous experience with the Forces, security services, or other government departments, gives them an inside understanding of ‘client’ needs, which other companies cannot provide.

“We’ve seen it action on small scales, certain deliverables and programs where the design authority is maintained by DND, and they’ve basically said ‘please give us this ‘thing’ by X date, and ADGA has been able to procure, design, build, deliver that particular ‘thing’. Those kinds of business relationships have worked extremely well, and we just need to do a little more of that”.

SUPPORTING VETERANS

McEwan points out that ADGA is a company unlike many others.

First, one of ADGA’s basic priorities for the past 57 years has been to offer employment to retired service personnel who still wish to serve Canada, but on a part-time or occasional basis. McEwan notes their direct relevant experience with the Canadian government is incredibly valuable, something most other companies can’t deliver. One of ADGA’s core strengths and competitive advantages is their people. While not always quantifiable, it is an important part of the company’s overall success. “Many of those we hire have first-hand experience on deployments and, as such, have an incredibly different understanding of what security means,” said McEwan. “This first-hand experience also helps to identify new perspectives and approaches to problems – further expanding our solutions offering.”

Second, a large portion of ADGA’s profits are invested back into the veteran community. As many of CDR’s readers will know, ADGA was acquired by Commissionaires back in 2021. In a press-release issued at the time of the acquisition, Commissionaires’ CEO, Capt (N) Paul Guindon (Ret’d), said “Commissionaires Ottawa and ADGA Group share a strong synergy. Commissionaires Ottawa’s tradition has been to hire from the military community and give back to the military community, rounding out our experience with industry-leading security personnel and technical expertise.”

LOOKING AHEAD

McEwan tells CDR that ADGA has several near- and long-term objectives. Much of their work over the decades has been focused on the Land Forces however, he says the company is now working to increase collaborations with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

ADGA is also aggressively working on becoming a Tier-2 trusted partner for Tier -1 OEMs. At the same time, ADGA is working on becoming that trusted Tier-1 services provider ally for the military and security sections of the government.

Currently, ADGA has a project in the works which involves a core team of very skilled, experienced, senior former military personnel who are acting as a sounding board and advisory service. McEwan says this is “not traditional consulting work but a real ‘in the trenches’ advisory group, helping various segments of the Forces to work out some of their long-term plans and issues.”

On the defence procurement side of things, McEwan is encouraged by ongoing discussions with government officials, noting there are positive signs that improvements to the procurement process are being made. He concludes, “At least the words are there at the highest levels saying, we have to build trust with industry and industry also has to build trust with the government. It’s a two-way street. In due course we’ll get there as long as both sides remain open, maybe we can survive this tightening of the belt.”

Marc Montgomery is a Regular CDR Contributor