Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am Tim McGrath, Assistant Deputy Minister, Real Property Branch at the Department of Public Works and Government Services. With me from PWGSC are Shereen Miller, Director General of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises and Mike Hawkes, Special Advisor, Accelerated Infrastructure Program.
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the impact of the stimulus funding on federal procurement, and specifically small and medium enterprises.
As we all know, small and medium enterprises are critical to Canada's prosperity. They're also critical to the work of our department.
In fiscal year 2007-2008, PWGSC purchased more than $4.8 billion worth of goods and services from Canadian small and medium enterprises, which constituted 49% of the total value of goods and services purchased by the department, an increase of 43% in 2005-2006, and a further 46% in 2006-2007.
In an effort to develop a closer relationship with small and medium enterprises, an official Office of Small and Medium Enterprises, which we call OSME, was created in 2005 within the department's acquisitions branch. It has a network of six regional offices located in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver, as well as one located here in the national capital area.
OSME provides information and training services to small and medium enterprises wishing to do business with the government, and helps them navigate the procurement process. OSME also studies the impact of government buying patterns and other factors related to small and medium enterprises, and works with these companies to identify the key barriers for them in procurement. Since its inception, OSME has assisted more than 40,000 businesses and individuals across Canada, an average of 16,000 a year.
Now let me turn to Budget 2009, in which Public Works has been directed to expend more than $400 million in additional funding over the next two years. To ensure the funding is used in a cost-effective manner and achieve the government's goals, the department has developed an accelerated infrastructure plan for speeding up and intensifying existing plans to repair and restore federal buildings and bridges.
Under this plan, PWGSC projects subject to the stimulus funding have been divided into four main streams. More than $40 million will go toward the repair of four federal bridges. Earlier this month, a contract was awarded for the rehabilitation of the Alexandra Bridge, located here in the national capital area; $175 million will be spent on work, which will be divided up under a construction management approach, meaning projects will be grouped together for reasons of efficiency according to type of work and location; $20 million a year, over the next two years, is being allocated to make federal buildings more accessible to people with disabilities; and $100 million per year, over the next two years, will be spent on building and repair projects that we have managed through our service provider, SNC-Lavalin ProFac, which provides property management services on PWGSC's behalf for 344 federally owned buildings.
For the majority of the services that SNC-Lavalin provides, things such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and cleaning, ProFac relies on more than 3,700 SMEs across the country. In addition, ProFac uses another 1,200 subcontractors, predominantly small and medium enterprises, for construction projects such as roof and window replacement, carpets, painting, and a number of fit-ups.
In 2007-2008, ProFac's use of small and medium enterprises was in the amount of $104 million. The $200 million in stimulus funding allocated for building and repair projects represents a 50% increase over our current funding level and on our spending on property management services. We expect this to have a significant positive impact on the Canadian construction industry, a sector of the economy in which the small and medium enterprises form a very large part. This funding means that much-needed work on federal assets that for many years was deferred for budgetary reasons can now move forward. We have the mechanisms in place to hit the ground running, and we expect the funds to start flowing on April 1. In addition, PWGSC will provide procurement and real property support to other departments that are receiving stimulus funding. We are working closely with them to plan and coordinate the needs.
Our deputy minister has put in place a task force to ensure that all projects are delivered on time and on budget, while meeting the objectives of the stimulus spending, and PWGSC is exploring measures to streamline some of its processes to ensure the requirements of colleague departments are met in a timely way.
In all our work we'll continue to be guided by our principles of transparency, fairness, openness, and value for money.
This concludes my opening remarks. My colleague and I would be pleased to answer your questions.