Government Operations committee  The program is with Public Works, but vote 10 is Treasury Board votes.

Government Operations committee  The amount that is asked for in these supplementary estimates is $96.5 million.

Government Operations committee  It was $56.7 million.

Government Operations committee  Well, for the $56 million, we have the data centre sustainability projects, we have the manège militaire, and we have the transfer from Transport Canada for environmental remediation. And we have $51.8 million that's being transferred from operating, from vote 1 to vote 5, to align the funding with the spending.

Government Operations committee  I can start. Of course all initiatives that are before you today are approved by Treasury Board. We have certain standards in terms of meeting Treasury Board oversight expectations, but within our own department we have a series of oversights before we go to Treasury Board. For instance, in my capacity as a CFO, I exercise my oversight on initiatives in terms of soundness from financial management, the risks.

Government Operations committee  From our perspective, we talked about the travel but we also implemented budget management excellence in PWGSC, which was more promoted, because the freeze leaves the implementation to the discretion of the department to achieve efficiencies. Let's be mindful that about 70% of our operating budget vote is program-specific expenditures.

Government Operations committee  We will.

Government Operations committee  Let me begin by answering your first question, because I think it is relevant. The DICP is a program aimed at stimulating the economy and giving small and medium-sized enterprises an opportunity to succeed, as I mentioned earlier. How will we help them? The program has two clearly distinct components.

Government Operations committee  Very well. Thank you for the question. Public Works is one of the 13 departments that were identified this year to conduct this review. We did the review and looked at 100% of our program spending, basically in conformity with the terms and conditions of the review, in order to identify the 5% savings that are expected from us.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. From Public Works' perspective, the focus will remain on delivering core activities, while focusing on priority-setting and containing the growth to a reasonable level. We know that the budget freeze is about generating efficiencies, and not necessarily a hiring freeze.

Government Operations committee  The $5.1 million is to implement urgent data centre upgrades, things like air conditioning, new emergency power units, electrical panels. This is basically to sustain the data centre operations and allow PWGSC to continue supporting the delivery of mission-critical programs for colleague departments.

Government Operations committee  It is being led by OSME.

Government Operations committee  The program is designed to promote innovation and to support outreach. The activities have already started. We just closed the first of four calls for proposals on November 16. We will start procuring innovative goods and services before the end of this fiscal year. The program is for two years; this is the first of the two years.

Government Operations committee  I'm not an expert in procurement, but I'll give you my perspective. This is basically a program to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to test innovative ideas, to give them a kickstart in commercializing their products. The government would procure those goods and services in compliance with the usual procurement process, with all fairness, openness, and transparency.

Government Operations committee  If I may, this is a new initiative, a pilot project that was approved in the federal budget to promote innovation and support small and medium enterprises. There are few components to this program. I can provide you with the background of the program, which is aimed at encouraging small and medium enterprises that have developed innovative products but are unable to test them on the market.