Government Operations committee  They are employed by us, but this capacity was funded in the past on an irregular basis, so the capacity was not stable. We have the capacity based on funds available from our vote 1. What we are doing here is stabilizing the audit capacity to make sure these auditors are there to serve and allow our ministry to continue to use its contractual rights to conduct audits.

Government Operations committee  It's a mix of both. Basically we are looking at 30 auditors, having a capacity of plus or minus 30 auditors, who only do audits on procurements. This is different from what you referred to on page 33, which is the audit for internal matters of PWGSC, which is the normal audit function you will find in any department.

Government Operations committee  Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. My name is Alex Lakroni and I am the chief financial officer of Public Works and Government Services Canada, PWGSC. I am pleased to join the committee today to speak about the department's 2012-13 supplementary estimates (C).

Government Operations committee  The answer is yes. I don't want to speak for Shared Services Canada, but my understanding is that it's out there. It's a department on its own, with all the authorities, and that means the estimates, supplementary estimates, public accounts, DPR, RPP, etc. In terms of the second half of your question, regarding transfers from departments and whether that will end or not, I think the essence of the transfers occurred last year, so it's in their main estimates.

Government Operations committee  If I may, I would like to refer you to the DPR, page 8, where we have a performance summary for internal services. You will note that the actual spending in 2011-12 is $338 million, which, if you compare it to 2010-11, is almost at the same level, because in 2010-11 we spent $337 million.

Government Operations committee  It's a very good question. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. I don't have the details in terms of the cost of asbestos in our buildings, but I know that our standards, in terms of the buildings...we always look for LEED standards for our buildings. Asbestos is a reality in some of our buildings, but I don't have the cost here.

Government Operations committee  Not necessarily.

Government Operations committee  They're not public servants.

Government Operations committee  In the strategic review we are looking at materializing about $5.1 million in savings because of usage of the private sector. What we are doing is similar to what my associate just talked about, using previous experience in working with the private sector on the management of our properties.

Government Operations committee  As you know, those are related primarily to the parliamentary precinct's delivery of the program. As my colleague mentioned earlier, we don't deliver our work by using public servants. It's specialized work; it requires external expertise. So we contract the work to be done by the private sector, and they compete for it.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. Thank you, Mr. Matthews. I am in full agreement with my colleague. In the main estimates, one would expect to see the ongoing programs that are approved. So you’ll see funding for those. Certain programs are not approved in time, but it's not because of a lack of will from the department or the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Government Operations committee  As far as PWGSC is concerned for this fiscal year, this is the last time you're going to see it. There is a residual amount that is similar for next year, so you will see it in supplementary estimates next year and that will be the end of it.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely. Thank you for the question. I think this is simply explained by two things. Public Works used to be Shared Services Canada, so before it split—at least a big chunk of it was—and there are two projects: one is cyber authentication, and the other is data centre redress of program integrity issues.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. In our strategic review proposals, we refer to this initiative, and savings are associated with it. The rationale behind it is that right now, since the late 1990s, we have been using the private sector for delivery of services. The experience with the private-sector-generated savings are proven and documented.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I'm here today in my capacity as chief financial officer for Public Works and Government Services Canada. I'm joined by my colleague, Mr. Pierre-Marc Mongeau, the assistant deputy minister of the parliamentary precinct branch.