Presentation Summary:

This presentation introduces a recently published framework on cost risk for the Department of National Defence (DND) and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).  Unlike existing industrial and academic standards on risk identification, estimation and reporting, the framework discussed in this presentation focuses on unique aspects of public institutions.  For example, the framework discusses Data Readiness Level metric to measure the availability of data for risk assessment.   The framework also highlights a checklist to link the Chief Financial Officer’s attestation process to the selection of appropriate visualization and reporting techniques;.  Finally, the presentation contextualize cost risk in DND as a subset of the Government of Canada’s own challenge of funding its policies and programs within available fiscal room.

Binyam (Ben) Solomon, Ph.D.

Senior Defence Scientist, CDefence Research and Development Canada (DRDC)

Dr. Binyam Solomon is Senior Defence Scientist at Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).  He is also an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University.   Previous appointments  include Chief Economist, Department of National Defence and acting Chief Scientist at the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis (DRDC).  He has published extensively in economics, statistics and defence topics.  His research interests include political economy, aspects of national security, peacekeeping economics and time series methods.  Dr. Solomon holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Ottawa and a Ph D in Defence Economics from the University of York, United Kingdom.