Evidence of meeting #7 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 equipment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Partnerships and Risk Mitigation, Communications Security Establishment
I think we definitely need to continue to consider who they are, the sensitivity of information and the specific technology in question before we decide whether or not they should be—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
They at least should have a security clearance, which apparently Nuctech didn't.
Mr. Ieraci, I just want to go back to you, because some of my colleagues here seem to be pushing the idea that the system worked: we caught the problem, we had the review and we stopped purchasing from Nuctech. Is it not the reality, however, with Nuctech receiving the sole standing offer for this equipment, that if the media hadn't found this, we'd be looking at them installing it in our embassies right now? The system only worked because the media found it, basically.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.
I don't really know how to answer the question, to be perfectly honest.
Conservative
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
No contract was signed, but they were the only company approved, so if Global Affairs had gone forward, they wouldn't have started a whole new process. They would have gone to the standing offer that had been approved and would have gone forward with Nuctech, if we hadn't found out about this issue.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
With the standing offer in place, had Global Affairs issued a call-up, it would have been issued to Nuctech.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Right, so it's not a matter of “the system worked and we caught it”. It was a matter of thank heavens someone in the media found it. I want to thank them for that.
How much did we pay Deloitte for this contract? Was there any scope outside of whether we should go forward with Nuctech? Was it a broader scope, Mr. Danagher?
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Mr. Chair, the value of the contract was slightly over $250,000.
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
The scope was pretty broad. It was giving us verbal advice on some security aspects, but it was also looking at how we approach and how we review all security equipment purchases moving forward. It was not about this standing offer in particular—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Could we have not gone to the CSE and saved ourselves a quarter of a million dollars?
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
It—
Conservative
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
She would, for this one piece of equipment, absolutely.
As the assistant deputy minister, I—
Conservative
November 18th, 2020 / 6:10 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
As the assistant deputy minister—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Is Deloitte more qualified to offer that information than the CSE?
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
It was a policy matter. It was not about the technical use of equipment in a particular deployment. The CSE is absolutely invaluable for us in that aspect, and they have been in the past in other aspects of our deployments.
On this one in particular, and on other security equipment, I needed an assessment of what happened and why it worked that way. I now have it, and—
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Thank you.
We'll now go to Mr. Weiler for four minutes.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Given that we are much past our time today and I have another commitment—I know that a number of other members have commitments that they need to get to at this point—I would yield the rest of my time today. I also would like to suggest that we do our best, going forward, to stick to our approved times.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Thank you, Mr. Weiler, for doing that. It is much appreciated.
With that, I would like to thank the witnesses for staying with us. With the vote, things got extended a little longer than we would like, and that's unfortunate. I appreciate our trying to stay as close to being on time as we could.
That said, we would appreciate it if any of those officials who have indicated that they will provide information to the committee do so by sending that to our clerk so that it can be dispersed amongst the committee. That is greatly appreciated.
I would like to thank our interpreters for sticking with us in some of the AV issues that we had and in the handling of that. It is much appreciated. Thank you.
With that—