The Quality Engineering Test Establishment (QETE) is a specialized engineering and test establishment within the Department of National Defence (DND). It is governed in its communications by Treasury Board Secretariat policy on communications and federal identity, as well as multiple Defence Administrative Orders and Directives (DAOD). The primary goals of these policies and DAODs is to bring together Canadians from all regions of the country and ensure that they are well-informed and aware of the role, mandate, operations, and contributions of the DND. Communications are central to the Government of Canada’s work and contribute directly to the Canadian public’s trust in their government. The government communicates with the public in both official languages to inform Canadians of policies, programs, services and initiatives, and of Canadians’ rights and responsibilities under the law. The government also has a responsibility to communicate with Canadians to help protect their interests and well-being, and to promote Canada as a prosperous, diverse and welcoming country. Like all organizations, the DND must be prepared to deal with issues and effectively manage them in order to minimize the likelihood of its escalation into a crisis.

According to the QETE of Tomorrow report, QETE lacks cohesion in its communications with clients, the public, and between departments. Additionally, it does not present each of its many Technical Specialty Areas – specialized engineering and scientific disciplines - in a uniform manner to the public. Messages between key staff often go unseen, and many person-days are lost to this inefficiency. Jamie Chapman was contracted to create a report for the 2022/2023 QETE Communications Strategy in March of 2022. The nature of the strategy adopted and implemented emerges from a combination of the structure of the organization, the type of resources available, and the nature of the coupling it has with environment and the strategic objective being pursued. Jamie recommended that QETE consider its audience in three segments: core, maintain, and grow. Outputs and outcomes need to be clearly defined as separate items in order to keep the data valid. While an output is a deliverable as a result of a process, an outcome is the next part of the process - the results - which includes the impact that outputs have had on it.