Good afternoon. I'd like to thank the chair and the committee members for inviting the Public Health Agency of Canada to return to speak today.
My name is Cindy Evans, and I'm the vice-president of emergency management. In this role, I'm responsible for the national emergency strategic stockpile.
As you may recall from my previous visit to this committee, the national emergency strategic stockpile, or the NESS, manages and allocates supplies that provinces and territories can request in emergencies when their own resources are insufficient, such as during infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other public health events.
As the NESS modernized, it focused on stockpiling strategic medical supplies that are not typically held by provinces and territories. This includes items such as specialized vaccines and other drugs that require controlled environmental conditions.
The COVID-19 pandemic is on a scale that's not been seen in over 100 years, and it placed a great demand on the global supply of personal protective equipment, or PPE, as well as medical supplies and other supplies. In response, the Government of Canada quickly mobilized to secure and rapidly distribute supplies to the provinces and territories. This was done by launching a bulk procurement process that ultimately led to the procurement of over 2.5 billion units of PPE, medical equipment and other supplies. Through long-term contracts with third party warehousing and logistics providers, we expanded our warehousing footprint to over two million square feet to accommodate the unprecedented quantities of supplies.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've been able to distribute over one billion units of PPE, medical equipment and vaccine ancillary supplies to the provinces and territories to support our front-line health care workers. While significant strides have been made in the past year, the Public Health Agency of Canada acknowledges that it was not as prepared as it could have been prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the dedicated and collaborative work of the agency and its federal partners to rapidly secure and distribute PPE medical devices supported the needs of the provinces and territories.
The Public Health Agency of Canada appreciates the Auditor General's recognition of the significant work that was undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency accepts all of the recommendations of the Auditor General and recognizes that the performance audit identifies areas for improvement that will guide the agency to be better prepared for future health events of this magnitude. These include reviewing the management of the national emergency strategic stockpile and enforcing service level expectations for contracts with third party warehousing and logistics providers.
The agency is still in active response mode, distributing NESS assets to provinces and territories in need. We have committed to responding to the Auditor General's recommendation within one year of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. We're working on a comprehensive management plan that will take into account lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In conclusion, as the NESS is intended to provide surge capacity to the provinces and territories, we will continue to work closely with them to review and assess Canada's needs for key medical supplies in an emergency. We will also better define the federal, provincial and territorial roles and responsibilities in preparation for future emergencies. This includes reviewing the management of the national emergency strategic stockpile and enforcing service level expectations for contracts with third party warehousing and logistics providers.
Thank you.