Thank you, Madam Chair.
I just want to make one comment and ask Mr. McCracken two questions.
My comment is for everyone. We have to be careful when we try at times to undermine the credibility of people who come to give evidence.
A document we received today says that Public Works and Government Services Canada, PWGSC, and the CB Richard Ellis group are not able to establish the value of the buildings. That is what Mr. McGrath asked. Nor were they able to do so in 2004, because no one at PWGSC had the skills to do it and the documents they had there were full of errors. You can read it in the document.
My question is for Mr. McCracken. A document from BMO and RBC says that PWGSC stated that its capital costs are higher than the private sector's because the elaborate process of internal approvals takes a lot of time. In addition, it says that internal standards often lead to specifications that are too stringent in comparison to those in the private sector, meaning less than optimal performance.
So that means that government standards are so high that, as I understand it, even the private sector would not meet them.
You must have seen this kind of thing. Can you tell me if it is normal in your world? Then, is it normal, supposedly to protect future deals, to have no information about the deals that took place with these seven buildings?