Miss Bourgeois, that is a broad question.
In 2005, the government introduced the initiative known as The Way Forward. This was a procurement strategy for the government as a whole, and not only Public Works, even though it is the main federal player in that area. Our goal was to propose ways of providing access services to departments that would be smarter and quicker, in addition to costing less.
At the time, after doing some analysis, we came up with the 10-10-50 formula, which meant 10 per cent lower costs, 10 per cent in in-house cost reductions for service delivery and, in particular, the procurement process. As you have heard Industry say on a number of occasions, the process was extremely time-consuming. We did some analysis and came forward with a number of potential solutions. So, an analysis was done of the goods that were procured.
In terms of the results, the expected savings were not realized in the projected timeframe. We wanted to move very quickly to realize savings. Having said that, as the document states, we did save money. Considering what was implemented, the savings realized were appreciable. Let me give you an example that comes to mind. The federal government reached agreements regarding travel. The number of companies operating in that area is limited and they were all invited to tender. After that, we negotiated reductions based on the projected volume of business travel. That is the kind of thing we did as part of that initiative.
Having said that, the cost is very significant, but we also have to consider other objectives, such as improving government services. In 2007, we introduced a new procurement renewal initiative.