Former DND official says Parliament, Canadians were ‘misled’ about F-35 procurement

The bad news about the F-35 fighter jets just keeps mounting.

Alan Williams, a Former Department of National Defence official who inked the initial deal on the F-35 project now says the procurement process was flawed, and that Conservative ministers knowingly pushed the project forward.

"The whole process was twisted to suit the needs of the military, with the acknowledgment and support of ministers. It was totally unacceptable," he told the National Post.

"The [F-35 purchase] process was completely hijacked and bastardized."

The Post's John Ivison explains the defence procurement process is simple: the military sets its requirements and then the procurement experts find the product that best meets those requirements.

However, in the case of the F-35, Williams said, the military "wired the specs" — that is, chose the plane it wanted and made sure none of the other contending planes met the requirements.

"What you do is simply include a couple of mandatory criteria that only one product can deliver. Then you can sole source without saying you sole sourced," he said adding the actual cost to taxpayers for the F-35s is likely to be $25- to $30-billion — double the current government estimate.

"The only reason I'm [coming forward] is to set the record straight and tell Canadians they've been misled."

According to the Post, Williams has spoken to the Auditor General's office who is expected to release a scathing report about the F-35 program in early April.

Federal officials who asked not to be identified, told the Toronto Star any criticism is premature because the auditor general is reviewing a purchase that hasn't taken place.

Julian Fantino, the minister in charge of defence procurement, offered a similar message before the House of Commons defence committee last week — and went a step further announcing the government has the flexibility to change or even cancel their order of 65 jets.