Government Operations Committee on June 6th, 2012

[Benoît Long, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Transformation, Service Strategy and Design Branch, Shared Services Canada]

Thank you for the question.

Several years ago, the government started consolidating contracts, especially those concerning telecommunications. There had already been some consolidation, but none for the whole company. For us, the first stage consists in making a full inventory of all contracts and services. We then try to see whether the best prices can be offered to existing contracts.

In most cases, a contract is concluded by a department. At times, departments would negotiate new contracts—for instance, in telecommunications, a sector where prices had already dropped. We can use those contracts today to reduce prices in the contracts of a number of departments and services. That enables us to save money in the short term and does not require overly complex work.

You asked a question about the way we proceed. For us, the first stage consists in doing a full inventory of what is there in terms of emails, and data and networking centres. The first transformation will consist in consolidating the email system, to turn it into what most of the country's government institutions already have. There will be a single platform, a single environment. The system will be much more secure and resilient, and it will enable us to enhance access and reduce costs. We know this is the case, as most governments that have done that work, gone through that process, have seen substantial savings—from 15% to 30%.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Denis, you're well over your time.

Is there anyone on the Conservative bench who wants five minutes?

The Liberal, Mr. McCallum, would like a turn.

Mr. McCallum.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

We'll give Johnny a turn. He's succinct. He told us that once.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Okay, John, five minutes, my friend.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

I won't take the full five minutes, but this is for PCO.

On the Public Appointments Commission, I understand that quite a few million dollars have been spent over several years without appointing any commissioner and that now the commission has been abolished.

Can I ask you if this is a permanent abolition or might it come back again? Is it gone for good?

[Michelle Doucet]

Yes, this is a permanent abolition of an entity of government. The decision was taken in Budget 2012 to dismantle this entity and we are in the process of doing that.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Lakroni, a little more detail maybe on this strategic management of real assets. You say you have bridges, you have wharves, you have other kinds of property. Can you give us an idea of which areas you might be moving from public to private management, or vice versa?

[Alex Lakroni]

In the strategic review we are looking at materializing about $5.1 million in savings because of usage of the private sector. What we are doing is similar to what my associate just talked about, using previous experience in working with the private sector on the management of our properties. For instance, instead of doing things in-house, we just hire a contractor or expand the contract we have in place right now. There are about 30 properties that were identified for contracting to the private sector in terms of contract management and maintenance.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Last question. You have $63 million in the supplementary estimates for “Professional and special services”. Can you explain what those are?

[Alex Lakroni]

As you know, those are related primarily to the parliamentary precinct's delivery of the program. As my colleague mentioned earlier, we don't deliver our work by using public servants. It's specialized work; it requires external expertise. So we contract the work to be done by the private sector, and they compete for it.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Are these essentially consultants?

[Alex Lakroni]

Not necessarily.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Not public servants.

[Alex Lakroni]

They're not public servants.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Thank you, John.

There is still an interest.

Alain and Jean-François both would like questions.

Do you both wish five minutes?

Or would the Conservatives want a turn?

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Ask the questions and we'll see how long it takes—as long as it's not longer than 10 minutes.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Alain, you were first in line. You have up to five minutes, please.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

When it comes to the management of invitations to tender in order to go from the public to the private sector, have you retained your staff's capacity to assess invitations to tender, or do you turn to private companies for the assessment of submissions?

[Pierre-Marc Mongeau]

Thank you for the question.

When we use the private sector's services, it's key for us is to retain the internal capacity to monitor and take care of anything that has to do with internal audits. We will always maintain a solid team so as to be able to manage those contracts.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

In your supplementary estimates request for a credit project, you ask for $30 million for leases. Once finalized, how much will those lease contracts cost in the long term?

[Pierre-Marc Mongeau]

For instance, when we have to free up the building at 180 Wellington Street or the West Block, we always end up with about 50 offices that need to be modified or relocated. Therefore, during each five-year period, since our long-term vision planning applies to that period—

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Which buildings are the leases we are talking about for?

[Pierre-Marc Mongeau]

Those are mostly administrative offices located downtown, and we also have some warehouses.

Here are the addresses of the buildings we are leasing: 119, 131 and 181 Queen Street; 2074 and 2086 Walkley Road—workshops are located at the latter locations, outside the downtown area. Of course, we also have the building at 1 Wellington Street, which belongs to the National Capital Commission, and that is why we are leasing it. We are also leasing 2455 Don Reid Drive; 155 Queen Street; 50 O'Connor Street; the C.D. Howe Building many are familiar with; and, finally, 768 Belfast Road.

Those are either warehouse buildings, or offices for parliamentarians or their staff. In certain cases, we may be talking about warehouses or workshops.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Have you estimated the cost of simply purchasing a building? Here, we're talking about $30 million under the renovation projects for all of Parliament Hill, over a 30-year period. That is nearly a billion dollars.