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.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
When the ministers were informed, did they ask you to respond?
Did your bosses ask you directly to resolve the situation and get answers?
5:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, International Platform, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
I can speak on behalf of Global Affairs. Yes, very, very quickly I was instructed to conduct the review, as discussed earlier.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Ms. Mullen, CSE is responsible for security. Have you been in contact with CSIS?
Has CSIS given you any reports or advice regarding the Nuctech situation?
5:50 p.m.
Director General, Partnerships and Risk Mitigation, Communications Security Establishment
Again, we were not actually approached by Global Affairs in support of this Nuctech standing offer that we're speaking about today. So my minister—
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
I'm talking about CSIS.
You represent CSE. I want to know whether CSIS contacted you regarding national security issues.
5:50 p.m.
Director General, Partnerships and Risk Mitigation, Communications Security Establishment
No, not with regard to this file.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Okay.
I want to inform the committee members that, two years ago, the government introduced Bill C-59, a bill to clean up security issues. The bill was reviewed by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. However, I can see that it isn't working. We identified the problem with working in silos. We can now see that the various departments don't seem to be communicating with each other.
For the benefit of the committee, the enforcement of the National Security Act, 2017 should be quickly reviewed and changes should be made, as needed.
I'll give the rest of my speaking time to my colleague Mr. McCauley.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Ms. Mullen, could you just take a bit of time and tell us what we need to do, going forward, to protect our assets, our people, our data and everything, both overseas in embassies and within Canada, from such state-sponsored aggression, I guess, in dealing with state-owned enterprises?
5:50 p.m.
Director General, Partnerships and Risk Mitigation, Communications Security Establishment
Thank you for the question. It's a big one.
The technical aspects that CSE is normally seized with assessing are but one of the inputs into a question like that. As you're aware, there are geopolitical, economic and other considerations that need to be layered upon the technical advice and guidance that we offer in terms of supporting departments and agencies in making acquisition decisions and, frankly, making decisions on whom they partner with in the international realm going forward, so I think it's—
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
5:55 p.m.
Conservative
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll try to give a recap.
There was a tender notice for a standing offer.
Mr. Ieraci, is that your understanding?
Nuctech was identified as the company with the best offer.
5:55 p.m.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes. That's correct.
The standing offer for the supply of security screening equipment, X-ray machines, was awarded to Nuctech.
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
The standing offer was awarded to Nuctech once the procedure had been followed—it may be necessary to review the procedure or to discuss things that should have been reviewed—after all the boxes in a fairly typical procurement, in my opinion, had been ticked off.
Isn't that right?
5:55 p.m.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes. All the bids received were assessed in accordance with the tender notice. As I said, there were 63 technical criteria, which were all reviewed. Three companies were considered eligible. We looked at the prices of the three companies that met the 63 requirements. Based on those prices, we awarded the standing offer.
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
I've now been in contact with Public Services and Procurement Canada officials for almost four years. In my experience, they're quite diligent when it comes to procurement for their department or for partner departments.
Isn't that right?
5:55 p.m.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Yes. We take this very seriously. Assessments are conducted in partnership with our clients. Of course, the technical areas are established by our clients. They also review the bids from a technical standpoint. We conduct a secondary review to make sure that the bids were assessed in keeping with the requirements. We review everything once it's completed.
November 18th, 2020 / 5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
Although the procedure was followed to the letter and the company met the 63 criteria, when the standing offer comes out, a minister—Mr. Paul-Hus even asked the question— takes a look at it and asks Global Affairs Canada to review the contract because it doesn't necessarily pass the test. We have an embassy and a security apparatus, so everything is reviewed.
Do you find this normal? Can this be part of the procedure? Does this bother you too much?
5:55 p.m.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
Given the time constraints, I'll be brief. The standing offer doesn't create any obligations on the part of the federal government. Our client initiated a review of the offer to determine whether the supplier would meet their requirements. As my counterpart at Global Affairs Canada said, as soon as his officials have completed the report, they'll look at it with us in order to move forward with the procurement.
5:55 p.m.
Liberal
Steven MacKinnon Liberal Gatineau, QC
Mr. Ieraci, I have one last quick question for you.
I know where you're coming from. Public Services and Procurement Canada's policy is to encourage not only Canadian companies, but also SMEs to bid on these types of contracts.
Can you very quickly describe the many efforts made to ensure a Canadian presence in the bidding process?
6 p.m.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Procurement Branch, Department of Public Works and Government Services
As I said, the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises is there to help inform Canadian companies of tender notices or procurement opportunities.
We're also carrying out other work, for example, to change our procurement systems and move to a digital and electronic system. In addition, we're trying to simplify our procurement processes as much as possible to encourage SMEs to participate.
