The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Ottawa's new defence procurement body has taken its first steps, awarding a contract to two Canadian companies to improve communications for troops stationed in the North. The Globe's Pippa Norman writes that the $3-million contract awarded to Ottawa's Telesat and MDA Space of Brampton, Ont., is part of a larger procurement, the Enhanced Satellite Communications Project -- Polar (ESCP-P), which has a budget of more than $5-billion and is being overseen by the federal government's newly formed Defence Investment Agency. Tuesday's announcement is the first by the agency and an indication of the approach it intends to bring to its work to streamline a traditionally slow-moving government process. The agency is calling this first procurement a "strategic partnership" because it will go beyond facilitating the transaction to integrate the companies' experience and expertise throughout the delivery of the defence project. The goal of the ESCP-P is to establish a small constellation of satellites that will provide wideband and narrowband communications over the North. It's part of Canada's broader plan to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).