These are delegated authorities provided to, assigned to, individuals within that secretariat. Those individuals had the training and were responsible for signing off on the invoices to confirm that the work was done. I see you nodding, so I'll take that as confirmation.
The reason I'm asking this is that one of the Auditor General's findings was that the CBSA approved time sheets that included no details on the work completed. This is a quote from the AG's report: “This limited the agency’s ability to challenge the contractor’s invoice and, without knowing what work was completed, its ability to allocate the invoice to the right project.”
I guess what I'm trying to point out is that the AG has highlighted a lack of documentation, which assumedly would have made it difficult for those delegated authorities to confirm that the work was actually done. Were those delegated authorities, those individuals who had the authority to sign off on the invoices, provided with adequate information to confirm that the work was actually done?