Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thank you for coming in today to talk about this important issue.
There were a number of recommendations in the 2006 Auditor General's report. Some of them have been mentioned, among which were making sure that the ceiling rates were in accordance with the terms and conditions. That was to eliminate the risk of overpayment. The other was that the tendering process contain steps that did not favour incumbent bidders, necessarily. There was another one that was very important, which was that, in general, more sets of eyes needed to look at the financial components of the bids. There are at least three sets of eyes—that is my understanding—as the process has evolved. There's the team or the person running the bid; there's also management oversight, with sufficient detail, where they can actually look at bids intelligently; and then, thirdly, there is a fairness monitor.
Does the minister or do any elected people get their paw prints on bids? Do they get involved in the tendering process? Can you explain why there's a separation between, I'll call it, the political arm versus the ministry itself?