Government Operations Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Sure. Some of these businesses operate in the transportation area, so they have been useful in transporting items to northern and isolated communities. Some of these businesses are in the mask-making business, so we've been able to benefit from their expertise in that area. Some of the businesses are intermediaries or suppliers that connect with the manufacturer at source.

That gives you a flavour. If you would like more details, we can make sure to get those to you.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

No, that's terrific.

Minister, in your opinion what are the next steps in what your department is doing right now to increase the number of indigenous businesses that are awarded contracts?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

As I said, this is an ongoing process. We have made some progress this year, but we have more work to do.

I have engaged our office of small and medium enterprises to be in direct contact with indigenous businesses to assist them and other diverse businesses in understanding the federal contracting process and to answer any questions they may have.

Sometimes people think about federal government procurement as involving only large businesses and large shipyards. In reality, there are a number of small businesses that could access federal contracts, and we want to make sure that the accessibility factor is present for them. We utilize our office of small and medium enterprises for that process.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Kusmierczyk, for actually getting your questions and the answers done in the exact time of five minutes. I appreciate that.

Minister, thank you very much for attending today and answering the questions. I have tried to focus on the length of the question such that the answer would be similar in length, and I appreciate your attempts to do that.

I am going to take the chairman's prerogative very quickly, though, with a very quick question to you.

Has the NESS been fully restocked at this point in time?

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

That's a very interesting question.

I will say that the NESS is very important to this country. We need to make sure, especially in the pandemic, that we have PPE available. This eighty-twenty split that the Minister of Health has negotiated with the provinces ensures that 20% of all PPE procurements are retained in the national emergency stockpile.

In addition to the stockpile, we did create the essential services contingency reserve, so if it ever is the case that the NESS isn't fully stocked, we have a backstop of PPE available.

In terms of the actual availability of PPE in the NESS itself on this particular day, I apologize that I don't know the answer to that question, but I would be happy to follow up with my colleague Minister Hajdu and get back to this committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Minister.

I was looking for a yes-or-no answer, but that's okay.

I appreciate your spending time with us today. Thank you very much. I understand you have to go.

We do have the department personnel here, so we aren't going to have to suspend. We will just take a two-to-five-second break, and then we will reconvene.

Thank you very much, Minister.

[Anita Anand, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair.

I would like to make one final remark. I would like to thank all members of the committee for their thoughtful questions, which I really appreciated answering this evening.

I would also like to thank the translators for the fantastic job they do each and every day. They are run out of our department, and I'm very grateful to them.

Thank you so much.

Goodbye.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you.

We will now convene into the second round. We will start with Mr. Paul-Hus.

You have six minutes starting now.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Mr. Matthews, and it is related to what the minister said.

The minister seemed to answer that there was no contract with Nuctech. That is not what we see on the government website.

Can you confirm the information?

[Bill Matthews]

What was issued initially was a standing offer, which means departments could, in fact, in theory order goods against a standing offer, but because of the concerns that were raised, we put a hold on that, so there are no actual contracts in place right now. There is nothing being ordered by departments against that standing offer arrangement. That has been held and effectively stopped.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

That's interesting. Thank you for the answer.

I will now turn to Ms. Reza.

I want to talk about contracting. I would like to know who at Public Services and Procurement Canada is the final signatory of negotiated contracts for vaccines.

Who signed the final contract with Proline Advantage for gowns and the contract with Baylis Medical for ventilators?

[Arianne Reza, Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

In answer to those questions, Mr. Chair, as it relates to the vaccine, the vaccine contracts are usually for the minister's signature. The delegation of authority as to which official signs depends on the value of the contract.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

There is the minister's signature, but there are also the signatures of senior departmental officials for the contracts. I would like to know who signed the contract for the vaccines, the contract for the gowns with Proline Advantage and the contract for the ventilators with Baylis Medical.

If you don't have the information, you can forward it to the committee.

[Bill Matthews]

Mr. Chair, I could take this, and if I need help from my colleagues, I'm happy to redirect it.

In answer to the question, the contract with Proline would have been signed by someone at a director general level. I'm going from memory on the second one. I believe the ventilator contracts with FTI and the other Canadian manufacturers were signed by the minister, but we will confirm that during this hearing. If I have that wrong, we will correct the record if that's acceptable.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you.

Ms. Reza, on the subject of procurement from Proline, how can you explain that a small, obscure company like Proline, which had no medical expertise, except for importing products for physical training, was able to get the contract for the medical gowns?

[Arianne Reza]

As it relates to Proline, that company came to us through Buyandsell. We put up a web page asking for assistance from Canadian companies to help us source critical PPE in the middle of the pandemic. Proline came to our attention in this manner, and it held the medical device establishment licence. Its product was reviewed by the Public Health Agency. Of note at this time, China was just reopening. It was very hard to get disposable gowns because they were in short supply globally. The fabric that in a medical gown is the same that is used in a N95 mask. Proline was able to procure and source the technical gown for level 3, which is a very high level of disposable gown that is used by health care providers in very life and death situations, and Proline was able to provide those gowns.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Reza.

My next question is for Mr. Fillion.

With respect to Davie and the shipbuilding strategy, the minister said earlier that we will have the answer, positive or negative, within a few months.

Can you be more specific, please?

[André Fillion, Assistant Deputy Minister, Defence and Marine Procurement, Acquisitions Program, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

I assume you're talking about the selection process for the third shipyard. The process is under way. We shared with Davie shipyard [technical difficulties] this summer. We expect to have a response by the end of the year, which will start the process of financial audits and negotiations. The goal is to have a framework agreement that will make it possible to award contracts, particularly for the construction of icebreakers for the Coast Guard program.

The process is under way and the next step is to submit the Davie shipyard proposal in the coming months.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I want to get this straight, because the sound cut out a little when you answered my question.

You said you asked for financial information, but were waiting for the response from Davie.

You haven't received the information yet?

[André Fillion]

We sent Davie a request for proposal.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

For the icebreaker.

[André Fillion]

I'm talking about the selection process for the third shipyard to qualify Davie for the construction of large vessels over 1,000 tons.

We issued them a request for proposal this summer and are expecting their proposal in the coming months. This proposal will allow us to begin the financial audit and negotiation process. The ultimate goal is the signing of a framework agreement that will officially qualify Davie as Canada's third largest shipyard for the construction of large vessels.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you, Mr. Paul-Hus.

Mr. Drouin, you have six minutes.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'll speak slowly so that the interpretation can be done properly.

I understand my colleague Mr. Paul-Hus has reservations about the Proline Advantage contract.

I want to congratulate a company in my area, Tulmar Safety Systems. They had no experience in the production of medical gowns, but they have nevertheless entered into a contract with Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Hawkesbury General Hospital. I know that the doctors and nurses are very satisfied with these gowns, even though this company had never produced them before. Several small- and medium-sized companies have taken on the task of producing equipment for Canadians that wasn't available a few months ago.

My question is for Mr. Matthews.

I often ask questions about Phoenix. How are things going there?

I have had the pleasure of representing a number of public servants in the region. I think things are going well now because I don't get as many calls to my office about Phoenix anymore.

Could you please give us an update on Phoenix?