Evidence of meeting #28 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was able.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Recommendation 28 of our 2018 study called for the government to track gender-based data and diversity-based data for contracts. It's been three years already. How long before we're actually going to see that so we can set measurable goals, etc.?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, I think in the space of, I would say, the next six months we will be able to track that. As I indicated, we have a policy now, which we're putting the finishing touches on, that will give us the authority to track that information. We are also putting in place the electronic procurement solution, which is the system that—
Conservative
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
So—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Is it a lack of will from the government, a lack of will from the deputy minister, a lack of will from whomever's in charge? It's been three years.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, for—
Conservative
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
No, I apologize, sir.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I was just saying that we can't move forward on accomplishing anything unless we actually have goals. We can't just, every year, have “not applicable” or “to be decided”. Why is it taking so long?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, there are two things on that. One is with regard to the electronic procurement solution. We are actually in year two and a half of a five-year project, so this is the year in which the system is implemented in accordance with the project charter or the project approach. I realize that this seems like a long time, but our procurement systems and the software on which they are based are antiquated systems. We need to make sure that the new system that we're putting in will work appropriately and well.
The second part is with regard to policy authority. As I mentioned, we're putting the finishing touches on a policy that will give us that authority. I would indicate that, over the course of the last couple of years, we have been doing a number of socio-economic experiments, pilots, to be able to test new things on procurement.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Sorry. Let me interrupt.
Who are you waiting for the policy approval for to start tracking this?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
That's—
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, that's a departmental policy, so that's within our department, to be able to have that authorization.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
But you're waiting for that authorization to authorize you to do what the committee asked you to do three years ago. What's holding up that authorization?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, it's not a question of it's being held up. It's that we needed to be able to draft the policy and undertake the appropriate due diligence to make sure that it will work as intended, so we're within—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
It's been three years. What's it going to take to get that done? What's the stumbling block here?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, I don't know that there's a stumbling block. Like I said, we're putting the finishing touches on it, so it's imminent that we'll be able to move forward with it.
Conservative
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Briefly, for our friend from OSME, I just want to give a shout-out to your department, especially the Edmonton-based group. It is phenomenal.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Thank you, Mr. McCauley.
We will now go to Mr. Drouin for five minutes.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses who are before this committee.
Mr. Ieraci, before our 2018 study, if I recall, or in 2017 maybe, I think you appeared as a witness, just under a different hat.
Mr. McCauley raised the point with regard to developing the policy for collecting data. My goal is not to pounce on you. I'm just trying to understand some of the challenges that you've faced, because for some of us it may seem simple. Can you talk to us about some of the challenges of developing a policy? On top of that, how are you dealing with...? I think about regulations and what comes into play in trying to reduce regulations on businesses as well. How are you going to marry these two together?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Mr. Chair, there are a couple of things that I would say on that. The first one is with regard to the development of the policy. The policy is the instrument that will permit us as PSPC, when we undertake procurements on our own behalf—for our department when we buy goods or services—or when we're buying on behalf of other federal departments and agencies, as I indicated, to be able to advance on socio-economic procurement, as well as be able to collect the information and the data.
There are a few things that we've had to look at and be mindful of. We are going to be asking companies, more specifically the owners or operators of businesses, to provide us with personal information that relates to things like race and ethnicity, and potentially sexual orientation and gender. Obviously, we need to make sure that we collect that data for operational purposes and that the collection of that data is done in a way that adheres to the obligations that we have under the Privacy Act so it won't run afoul of the Privacy Commissioner. This is just one of the elements that we've had to look at and work through as we look to be able to move forward on socio-economic procurement.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Thank you.
In the last study as well we had a group that was in front of our committee with regard to certifying women-owned businesses. Are you looking at the same strategy to determine that women-owned businesses are truly owned by women or by under-represented groups?