Thanks very much, Ben.
Thanks to members of the committee.
Magnet is a Waterloo-based cybersecurity company that provides digital investigation software solutions that are used by over 4,000 police, national security and other public and private entities with investigative authorities in 94 countries.
We're proudly Canadian and thankful to call a dozen federal organizations our customers, but I should point out that Canada accounts for about 5% of our business.
The challenge we see with federal procurement in the security sector is the lack of a strategic lens. First and foremost, the government continues to buy modern tech, largely software, the same way it purchases office supplies, through lengthy RFI and RFP processes that are focused on what is believed to be the lowest price of a static product, versus the best value delivered through a solution that will evolve to develop benefit over a long time horizon.
Modern software is highly iterative technology. It can solve key problems, but it can also create grave ones if it's not developed and purchased with foresight and a focus on value. Leading global governments in procuring security solutions acknowledge this, and allow their front-line experts to work with their innovators much earlier in the development cycle. They also keep a close eye on the potential for such solutions to be exported.
This isn't to say that these governments don't buy foreign technology, but they assess the risk and consider the prosperity opportunity. They use national security and small business exemptions in their trade agreements. They also use non-tariff barriers such as security clearances and government expectations, to ensure that the solutions they procure are trustworthy and deliver economic spillovers. They also shorten procurement to align with imperative development cycles, allowing pivots and off-ramps to avoid massive failures.
The concern I'm expressing here today is less from a business-operator perspective and more from a proud Canadian vantage point.
Cybersecurity is the nexus of prosperity preservation and creation with geopolitical conflict and criminal activity. If we, as a country, don't update our playbook soon, we risk being left behind.
I'd be happy to animate the themes I've covered with some tangible approaches to a Canadian-made technology procurement strategy.
Thanks very much.