Plan B for former Nortel campus
Skyrocketing cost of DND move has Public Works weighing its options
Public Works is considering whether other government departments might make their home at the former Nortel campus after concerns have been raised that preparing the location for the Defence Department might be too expensive.
The Conservative government has earmarked almost $1 billion for the proposed plan to move military personnel and Department of National Defence staff to the former Nortel site at 3500 Carling Ave. That includes $208 million to buy the property, with an additional $790 million to be spent to renovate the buildings for DND’s needs, according to a presentation made to the Senate by Treasury Board officials. The cost to prepare the site involves everything from creating new offices to installing secure computer networks.
Sources, however, have said the cost of outfitting the campus for DND could increase to around $880 million, prompting Public Works to reconsider whether DND should be relocated there. Public Works officials say that estimate is not accurate, but refuse to release their cost estimates for the renovations and fix-up costs.
Public Works, however, acknowledges it has compiled an extensive number of documents related to the option of moving in other departments into the campus instead of DND.
It has not disclosed what those departments might be.
Asked whether Public Works is looking at other options for tenants at the former Nortel campus, department spokesman Sébastien Bois responded in an email that the organization “is currently reviewing its plans for the renovation and future occupancy of the Carling Campus in light of the current environment of fiscal restraint to ensure that the use of the Campus provides best value for taxpayers.”
The DND originally estimated the cost of preparing the Nortel site for its needs would be $633 million, according to department documents obtained by the Citizen through the Access to Information law.
Although DND is planning for the move, cabinet has not yet made the final decision authorizing the department to occupy the Nortel site.
But some are questioning the move at a time of cost-cutting, particularly since the DND will still continue to occupy key buildings such as its main headquarters, the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building on Colonel By Drive, as well as its facility on Star Top Road. DND’s presence in the Louis St. Laurent building, the National Printing Bureau building and the Hotel de Ville building in Gatineau will also continue.
Michel Drapeau, an Ottawa lawyer and former Canadian Forces colonel, said it makes more sense to move departments which need less security over to the Nortel campus. That, in turn, would cut down on the cost of refitting the campus, he added.
“What about moving the agriculture or environment departments out there?” he said. “The other question is, ‘Why move at all if DND is still keeping its Colonel By headquarters?’ ”
Others have also raised warnings about increasing costs. After hearing the Treasury Board estimate for refitting the Nortel campus for DND during a senate meeting in February 2011, Liberal Sen. Pierrette Ringuette questioned whether the proposal made economic sense.
“With the refurbishing costs, the move, the IT, the security, etc., etc., the estimate is almost $1 billion,” she pointed out to fellow senators. “How can we justify this?”
DND officials declined to discuss the Nortel move, referring all queries to Public Works. Previously, however, it hoped to make details public at a high profile news conference in 2010. A day before that news conference, planned for Oct. 19, 2010, the Privy Council Office stepped in to shut the event down, according to the DND documents obtained by the Citizen.
The event was to have included Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose.
DND sources say the Nortel move is particularly sensitive as the Conservative government is not keen to highlight its plans to spend on the project during a time of fiscal restraint. The DND documents also provided a department name for the Nortel move — Project X.
Also spiked during the aborted 2010 news conference was a message to be distributed to employees by then-deputy minister Robert Fonberg and then-defence chief Gen. Walt Natynczyk, notifying them of the reasons for the move. That message was to highlight the Nortel complex as a state-of-the art facility with lots of green space and bike paths. The move would reduce accommodation costs and improve security, the message added.
“A move of this magnitude will, no doubt, cause some disruptions along the way,” the message from the two men noted. “We acknowledge that this announcement will raise many questions and concerns with respect to transportation, family issues, and other personal considerations.”
In the past the Defence Department has estimated it would save $50 million a year by moving many of its employees in the Ottawa area into the former Nortel site but it has not provided a breakdown on how it came up with that figure.