Government Operations committee  We're studying this issue in great detail at the moment. Vendor performance is a key issue for government as well as vendors. Vendors approach us as well. Nobody wants to see their supply chain impacted by a negative vendor performance. How we take that into account in future bidding so that their vendor performance history is part of the future bid is something that we're currently examining and working on with our national supplier committee through our working group, in order to look at what would be the best possible set of policies and directives to guide this work.

Government Operations committee  From a PSPC perspective, I do not know of a strategy that has those elements aligned within it. I'll defer to my colleague.

Government Operations committee  Please allow me to answer in English. I would just note on PSAB that the issues and the strategy are that the aboriginal business is designated as such by INAC. First is to get those indigenous businesses that are looking for the set-asides through the INAC door in terms of meeting the program requirements, such as the education, the outreach.

Government Operations committee  The PSAB program has I think two key components. One is the set-aside where it's mandatory, where the good is being acquired or the service is being delivered in a predominantly indigenous population. Or there's the other stream, where there is, from a voluntary perspective, an interest by the department to use it.

Government Operations committee  I think that is actually happening. You will see that contracts are being awarded more and more outside of where that mandatory lens is, into departments using it as a voluntary lever across their procurements.

Government Operations committee  I think we've heard from my colleague Mr. Gray that there is a lot of outreach going on. When we're trying to work with indigenous SMEs, just like with any other SMEs, we encourage them to bid on the broader collective of procurement opportunities so that they're not limited, as you proposed earlier, to the mandatory piece.

Government Operations committee  I don't know about “many”, but certainly we're seeing an increase, and again I apologize. I understood that today's focus was on the landscape of procurement and that we would have the opportunity to come back and speak about PSAB with INAC officials and on the various stats that would be helpful for you to understand the context.

Government Operations committee  The value proposition concept, as well as the ITBs, which are I think the industrial and technological benefits, are two programs and policies that we see used often on the defence side, exactly for what you indicated in your narrative: they are most commonly restricted by the use of trade agreements.

Government Operations committee  I will just add that we are coming back on November 3, and we'll provide more detailed responses on the PSAB piece.

Government Operations committee  I would just note that we have work under way on our terms and conditions in general. We are looking forward to seeing the contract clauses that we need as the Government of Canada, because some of them are from years ago and need to be updated and more aligned with a modern comptrollership policy.

Government Operations committee  There are several different streams in which we try to encourage aboriginal businesses to participate. The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises that Mr. Gray described has real key engagement in the local indigenous communities to demonstrate or show them how to apply where there are opportunities.

Government Operations committee  They're co-located with the PSPC regional offices. OSME is part of PSPC.

Government Operations committee  I'm not sure if there has been a formal report, but we have done a fair bit of work in terms of understanding the barriers. We look at joint ventures as a way to provide opportunities for SMEs to come together, partner, and look at ways to get some of the bigger contracts. We have a fair bit of effort going on in that way to make sure that we don't set the criteria and the limits so far out of range that they can't contribute, understanding that our supplier base is predominantly SMEs.

Government Operations committee  It's a good thing I'm a fast talker. I can't speak specifically to this particular acquisition. I can tell you that whenever we look at procurement, the first key piece we talk about is PSAB. We work with our client and ask what are the aboriginal and indigenous needs in the community that can be addressed.

Government Operations committee  I hope to provide you with a robust response, but in fact, there will be either a written response or we can come back, because ESDC is the lead in terms of fleshing out what that fair policy looks like, so—