Evidence of meeting #123 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I will say that on the work that's within the parliamentary precinct there's a very robust oversight regime.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes, we did.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Okay. With this robust regime, I understand that we put in the wrong windows at the Queen Street side, we put in the wrong bulletproof glass. Is that correct?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I don't believe that to be accurate. Sometimes requirements change. Security is one of those critical elements that.... After the events of October 22, 2014, there was a significant review of security for all facilities within the precinct.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
It's based on that. The front glass is fine, but the back glass is not? I'm just curious as to how it came about.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Sometimes the requirements for...if you're talking about, for example, things like ballistic standards, those will change over time depending on reviews and studies made, for example, by the Parliamentary Protective Service as well as other security agencies. We have seen a number of those shifts over the past few years.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Is PCL the main contractor, the lead contractor, for the construction work being done at—?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
There are a number of main contracts. For this building, it was EllisDon, for example.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
For the West Block, it is PCL construction.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I have a couple of questions. How are we working with the generals to ensure that their subcontractors are, again, involving some of our target groups: indigenous and women-led companies?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
In the example that I gave for the West Block of the masonry apprenticeship program, again, it's one of the largest ones in North America.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Is it written into PCL's contract that a certain number of subcontracts have to fall within a certain target group?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That contract was put in place several years ago, and we are now making adjustments to make sure that we are able to create those flow-through opportunities in those contracts.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Then it's currently not in the existing contract. Have we gone back to encourage them?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
We have had those discussions on partnering opportunities, and that does create significant successes on particular projects, and the West Block is one of those where we have seen some success.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Okay. Just staying with PCL and the West Block, I understand it's a cost-plus contract. What oversight do we have? What audits do we have? I understand we've hired an outside company to oversee. How confident are we? Are these audits published? How confident are you that we're getting our money's worth, so we're not getting a repeat of these gold-plated coat hangers?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Again, just to unpack the accountability and oversight regime a bit, it is fairly robust. One point that's important is that it is open-book accounting, and that is put in the contractual documents. That's a requirement. We do have independent cost audits that are done, and we've had a number of those done on the West Block. They've all come back with very strong reports.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes, they are.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
I think your time is up, Mr. McCauley. Thank you so much.
Next we have Mr. Blaikie for seven minutes.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you very much.
I'll start by offering some affirmation for the work you do. Members of Parliament discuss issues of procurement at a pretty high level, but the success of these programs really depends on the work that you do getting into the details. We can pass all sorts of wonderful policies, but without the work that you do, it doesn't really get done. Thank you for getting into the details and doing that work.
I'm relatively new to the committee and new to the issues, but my understanding is that the procurement strategy for aboriginal business is a program of longer standing. It's not something recent, and it's something that I support.
There have been some recent developments on the procurement side, particularly with respect to international trade agreements. CETA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership include provisions about procurement and mitigate against having special requirements that might favour or be seen to be favouring Canadian businesses over foreign businesses that are less well positioned to work with local small contractors, whether they're indigenous contractors, women contractors, or whatever else.
I'm wondering if your department has done an analysis of the procurement provisions in those trade agreements to assess the impact of those provisions on your existing procurement programs.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Precinct Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Obviously, those international trade agreements provide a framework. The good news is that the Government of Canada has expended and continues to expend more and more energy to reduce barriers and create opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, create opportunities for start-up companies and innovations to come to the marketplace, and create opportunities as well, such as what we're speaking to here today, more specifically to indigenous businesses, female-led corporations, etc.
I'll pass the detailed response over to Matthew.
Executive Director, Strategic Policy Development and Integration Directorate, Acquisitions, Department of Public Works and Government Services
I think your question was, generally speaking, are we involved, and do we review the trade agreements in terms of applicability to federal government procurement?
Indeed, in terms of Canada's negotiation of trade agreements, there are usually multiple departments involved. Public Services and Procurement Canada and Treasury Board Secretariat, being in charge of the government's contracting policy, work hand in hand with Global Affairs Canada on each trade agreement, including the procurement chapters. In doing so, we would review potential implications for federal procurement and implementation.