Government Operations Committee on April 30th, 2020

[Alexander Jeglic]

In terms of making sure the money is spent where it's designed to go, that isn't the role of the office, but the second piece of your question is exactly what we do. The parties to a federal contract that are involved in the management and administration of the contract can use our ADR services. That's exactly one aspect of our immediate mandate.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

What then would happen to a business that didn't secure the contract with the federal government, but had received funds?

[Alexander Jeglic]

That would be a bit of a different situation, and would be more of a grant and contribution type of scenario. We only review federal contracts.

That wouldn't fall as part of our review mechanism; I think that would fall within the parameters of the grant and contribution scheme that was set up by ISED.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

This one is going to the office of small and medium enterprises.

We've had many conversations about the logistics supply chain, from the buy and sell of procurement, all the way through to delivery. We've had conversations before this committee around who is responsible for what, as it relates to actual delivery of services.

I hear from you today that you are only the forward-facing platform for the intake of procurement submissions, RFPs and that type of thing. Is that correct?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

That's correct. In the context of the current COVID situation and the website that we put up, we are following up with domestic companies to obtain more information. I think your categorization is accurate; we're at what I would call "the front end".

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Understanding that there have been some gaps between departments and services delivered—we've brought on big logistics companies like Amazon—has there ever been any discussion in your department to extend the scope of work to include a more robust A to Z kind of service for product procurement, delivery and tracking?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

Is your question whether there have been conversations about that?

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Yes. Has it ever been in your work plan to go beyond the scope of simply taking in proposals to doing something that has more government-controlled accountability as it relates to the distribution of contracts, from the application through the procurement to the actual delivery?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

I think what I would indicate in this case is that there are numerous groups that are working on these, and that there are...hand-offs. That's not the right word, but I can't seem to think of a better one right now. There is collaboration happening between the groups and the teams. As I indicated, at the office of small and medium enterprises, we are at what I would call “the front end” of the process. We want to make sure that companies understand how to do business with the Government of Canada, how to find opportunities and how to apply for those opportunities, but as I mentioned in my opening remarks, we are not the contracting team, obviously. That information moves to the contracting team, who then deals with some of the things you've identified.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I can appreciate the size and scope of this. It's unprecedented. We're under national security emergency measures. I am, however, also a member of public accounts. I know that at the end of the day, when all of this stuff shakes out, there's going to have to be an accounting of where all the money has flowed to, who it's gone to and what it's been used for.

Could you perhaps provide what that might look like, if you have the ability to do so?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

In terms of what it would like in front of public accounts or how—

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

When you take in a contract for procurement, is there a mechanism within your department that shows when the contract has been completed?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

I think what I would say in this regard is that, as the office of small and medium enterprises, we want to help educate companies on what it's like to do business with the Government of Canada. As part of that information, one of the things that we tell them of course is that doing business with the Government of Canada is not the same as doing business with the private sector, and that there are more obligations. As well, ultimately some more information could be made publicly available than otherwise would be the case in traditional business-to-business situations. That is one of the things that we want to help suppliers understand. When dealing with Canadian taxpayers' money, there is a higher level of review that is done. That would be through one of those mechanisms such as public accounts—

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

That's a perfect segue into my last question. I know that time is running out.

What is your office doing to prepare to support SMEs once Canada has emerged from the pandemic?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

It's a short question, and I hope you have a short answer because we're really running out of time.

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

I will keep it very short. To be honest, we're really looking forward to that. We want to be able to continue to make sure that companies are aware of the fact that we exist and that our services are there to help them understand and demystify federal procurement so that we can help them on their journey through federal procurement.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I appreciate that. I'm trying to demystify the process of government as well. I appreciate you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go into our second and last round of questions, for five minutes each.

We will start with Mr. McCauley.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Ieraci, I'll start with you.

First of all, I want to give a shout-out to your Edmonton office. I've done several seminars with them throughout the province. They do an incredible job. It's some of the best service I've seen out of the public service.

We've heard so much about the 26,000 companies that have applied through buyandsell.gc.ca to sell to the government. How are you helping them navigate a less than friendly, less than straightforward procurement process so that they can actually, perhaps, sell to the government, as opposed to just the usual suspects getting the contracts?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

Thank you for the positive feedback. It's really great to hear that. I'm fortunate to be working with a team of such dedicated and passionate public servants. I'm glad to hear that your experience has been positive.

With regard to your question, as I mentioned in a previous answer, we're using this opportunity to make sure that companies know that we exist and that we can help them on their journey through federal procurement.

Inevitably, there are going to be some companies that will not get contracts in the immediate term, but that doesn't mean we may not be able to do business with them in the future as we move through this pandemic.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

We know there's an issue with how difficult it is to get through the RFP process. That has shown up for years in the annual reports out of your office. Are you seeing Public Works working towards making it an easier process right now to try to get items bought and items built? Or are we still dealing with the same cumbersome RFP process?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

You mentioned annual reports, but I don't know if the question was directed towards me or towards the procurement ombudsman. I apologize. I just want to make sure of that.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

It's for the procurement ombudsman. I'm sorry. I'll ask him that.

Are you seeing any change from Public Works, from up above, to lighten up the process to help out SMEs?

[Lorenzo Ieraci]

Thank you for the question.

One of the things that we are happy to report when we speak to companies is the fact that over the course of the past couple of years and the last—

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

I'm thinking more of the last two months or the last month.