Evidence of meeting #50 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was security.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Okay.
Like my colleague, I'm having difficulty understanding this.
You had an $8 million contract. Of that, $110,000 went to the development of the ArriveCAN app, and the remaining $1.4 million went to other contracts.
Can you shed some light on that? I don't understand it.
4:55 p.m.
President, IBISKA
CBSA has more than one application. I don't know exactly how many it has. One is called the CARM application and one is called the PCI application, and there are many other applications for the projects it has or for the introduction of new systems and all these things. Every one of those has to go through security authentication and authorization, because that's part of the process the government has introduced, which is in the TBIPS guidelines. They have to be done as part of that process. We do have consultants who are required to go through the whole process. ArriveCAN is only one application. There are many other projects and applications. We actually get involved with all the application systems at CBSA.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
So several apps have been developed for a value of $1.4 million. Is that correct?
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Okay.
Will the rest of the contract be completed eventually? Do you have any plans?
4:55 p.m.
President, IBISKA
Yes, it is ongoing. Our contract, as I said, is initially for two years. It expires in June 2023. There are three one-year option periods that the government can decide to exercise it if it would like to.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
4:55 p.m.
President, IBISKA
What our consultant did, when the application was developed.... I'm not completely familiar with that. If there are any additions done or any changes in any aspect of that, if you make a change to the applications or to the systems, they have to go through security authentication and authorization. That's the process. Every time you do that, you have to pretty well go through the process.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
What state was the ArriveCAN app in when you got the contract?
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
No, excuse me. I think Mr. Villemure asked, what state was the... ? At what point of development, I assume, or what state was it in when you were contacted by the CBSA?
4:55 p.m.
President, IBISKA
With regard to ArriveCAN, I have no idea, because we were not involved with the ArriveCAN application.
Our individual consultants started working in October 2021.
5 p.m.
President, IBISKA
As I said, we worked on the security authentication and authorization of the application.
5 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Okay.
What precautions did you take to protect personal information?
5 p.m.
President, IBISKA
As I said, we were not involved with the applications. We were not involved in developing the applications. We were actually able to test the application to see if it was working.
5 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Mr. Chair, I would be happy to give the floor to the next speaker.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Villemure.
Mr. Green, we're going to you next. You have six minutes, sir.
November 30th, 2022 / 5 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you very much.
I would like to join my colleagues in welcoming you to this committee, sir.
You're probably hearing a bit of confusion and frustration in terms of us being able to unpack your role in all this. I'm getting an early sense—
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Excuse me, Mr. Green. We're having trouble hearing you. It looks as if you have your microphone down. Could you speak up a little more, if you don't mind?
I have stopped the clock.