Employ their skills they did. Between July and September, the students put in more than 1000 hours of their own time, researching and writing the 133-page report, titled, “An Analysis of Canadian Government Strategies to Support Innovation through Procurement.” The timeline was tight, but the group was aided by the full support of both Dr. Naceur Essaddam, for whom they were doing the original project, and Dr. Hurley, MBA program chair, who contributed much of his own time to their report. 

Through their research, the students came to several conclusions, and, perhaps not surprisingly, many of their suggestions were… innovative! Some of these suggestions included using a more open-concept request for proposal procedure, the use of performance incentive contracts, setting standards that require private-sector firms to innovate in order to meet that standard, and enhanced treatment of unsolicited proposals.   

Two members of the group, Majors Joe Whitfield and Chris Zimmer, presented the report during a two-day roundtable discussion in Montreal on September 23^rd.

The report was exceedingly well-received, and in fact, Yvette Aloïsi, the ADM of PWGSC, “praised the group for innovative and helpful contributions, some of which she had not previously encountered, despite her own extensive and distinguished career experience in procurement,” according to Dr. Jacquelyn Thayer Scott, the Deputy Chair of PMACST. Dr. Scott went on to say that, “the careful work provided is a tribute not only to the individuals involved in the Report’s preparation, but also the evident quality of the theoretical and practical training in business decision-making being provided by your graduate program at RMC.” 

This is a substantial tribute to the MBA program, whose first class graduated in just 2001, and is little known amongst many in the Canadian Forces. However, the students all attest that the program has been invaluable in preparing them for the challenges they will soon face in their careers. If the resounding success that they have achieved with this report is any indication, their assessment is indeed sound.