Modernization is happening whether we like it or not. Hopefully most the redundancies can be made by people retiring.
My current workforce is going to decrease from 3k direct jobs to 2k in the next 5 years. This is from a peak of 12k direct jobs in 1990.
I wish we would make use of existing natural intelligence before relying on artificial intelligence or external consultants; internally we already know a lot but frequently doesn't get listened to unless you have a fancy letterhead.
A lot of the increased LOE required on things like procurement have to do with process, so unless they slash the processes not growing the defence and procurement related departments caps our ability to do things, as it now takes more people to do the same objectives, because there is more processes. We have a lot of SMEs that spend a portion of their time on SME stuff, and a lot of time on process stuff to support that SME activity.
Also things like travel have increased by an order of magnitude in both the LOE and time required; previously we would get email approval for a travel requirement, then put in a travel request to the system (claimsX) where you would get the actual specific travel costs and trip timing approved by whoever had the budget authority.
Now you need to get approval for the concept of the travel, with a ROM budget, approved at a fairly crazy level (in our case DG, or ADM, sometimes DM), then you need to get the travel itinerary approved (ITA), and then you finally put in your travel request to the system (still claimsX) for the travel costs and itinerary.
Adds weeks/months to the approval process, for what seems to be a globe and mail check, for even routine travel, and adds a lot of increased costs, delays, LOE and stress for what is usually no brainer travel requests. I recently got asked by another section to go to a conference in the US, on a very specific niche topic, specific to a number of upcoming infra projects, and with two months lead time didn't get the itinerary approved (which lets you book an airline ticket) until the Friday before a Sunday departure.
At the moment that's all required by TBS, but a pretty obvious example of bureaucratic bloat that takes LOE and increases direct costs to do things that adds no value. But if you don't do it, can make major mistakes that cost a fortune to fix later, so really penny wise, pound foolish.
