Government Operations Committee on June 17th, 2008

[Liliane Saint Pierre]

I will take the responsibility.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Madame Faille.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My colleagues asked some very relevant questions. I have a question for Mr. Poole. You worked at Citizenship and Immigration. Is that correct?

[Steven Poole]

Yes.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

You worked on the case management project, did you not?

[Steven Poole]

That's correct.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

What was your role on this project?

[Steven Poole]

My role was to be in charge of IT. I acted as a consultant for one of my colleagues who was in charge of implementing the case management system. I was also responsible for seeing that the technology side of things ran smoothly.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Are you acquainted with Mr. Bezanson from Citizenship and Immigration?

[Steven Poole]

I was briefly acquainted with Mr. Bezanson. However, he worked at PWGSC, not at Citizenship and Immigration.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

So then, you knew Mr. Jim Bezanson, the only member of the team evaluating the TPG contract. He was part of the technical evaluation team.

[Steven Poole]

Madam Chair, I believe Mr. Bezanson worked with four other evaluators on this team.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

I see.

According to statements made on June 10 last by Mr. Donald Powell, On November 22, 2006...

The employee from PWGSC with whom you are acquainted is in fact Mr. Jim Bezanson. Correct?

[Steven Poole]

Yes, but I would just like to say that I didn't know him very well.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Fine. But perhaps you knew his father who worked at Citizenship and Immigration?

[Steven Poole]

I do not believe so. I don't recall.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Since you worked on the case management system, I was wondering if you knew Mr. Al Bezanson, one of the system's designers.

You never had occasion to meet these people when you were working on the integration project.

[Steven Poole]

I do not recall. If there was a connection, I was certainly not aware of it.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

On June 10, Mr. Powell testified that on November 22, 2006, Mr. Chénier, Mr. Bezanson's superior, informed him that the evaluation would be reconfirmed since the results were very close.

Can you tell us exactly what transpired on that day, Mr. Chénier?

[Maurice Chénier, Chief Operating officer, Office of the Chief Executive Officer (ITS), Department of Public Works and Government Services]

By all means. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I meet with my IT supplier either monthly or on a regular basis to discuss the past month's performance. We discuss progress made every month.

I did in fact meet with Mr. Powell that day for the sole purpose of discussing how the bidding process was progressing. I mentioned to him that there would be a review of the quality assurance done by our chief risk officer. This had already been announced.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Was Mr. Bezanson present for the re-confirmation of the evaluation?

[Maurice Chénier]

No, absolutely not.

[Meili Faille, Bloc, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

And why was that?

[Maurice Chénier]

Mr. Jim Bezanson was a member of the evaluation team. Once the technical evaluation was completed, the file was turned over to our colleagues in acquisitions who follow the standard rules of procedure. The technology service people are not part of our group.