Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much, everyone, for being here.
In an earlier life, I used to do a fair bit of work for a number of companies that would bid on government contracts, both here and in different provinces, and in particular in the United States. We were all very struck by the significant difference between the transparency of procurement processes in the United States and the transparency we have here. I note that a fair bit of your report talks about the work in alleviating concerns, especially among people who have lost bids or who have not won bids.
Pardon my ignorance about the role of the office, but if you're the ones who are hearing these complaints and are having to deal with this lack of transparency, are you in a position to recommend changes? Have you looked at comparative processes in the United States?
As an example--I pull this off the top of my head--the State of Washington publishes responses to RFPs. The content of them is actually disclosed. I know that here in Canada it's much more protected and they are kept confidential, but there's a real air of disclosure in the United States.
Do you look at those as comparisons? Are you recommending that we have a greater level of transparency? I open it up because I remain very struck by the difference in our approach here compared to what I've seen in the United States.