Thank you very much.
I'm going to ask my second question right away, because my questions a require a lot of background.
In October 2022, Ms. Royds reiterated that Public Services and Procurement Canada was looking to make procurement more fair, accessible and competitive while favouring an approach that provides the best value for Canada and Canadians. She said that PSPC had implemented procurement processes tied in with its accountability and integrity objectives and obligations, and that monitoring and verification measures were in place to ensure high-level oversight of procurement processes. However, at the same meeting, Treasury Board, which is responsible for major policies, admitted that it didn't follow up on departments' compliance with these policies or on the results they achieved, and that it was up to deputy heads to follow up, adding that the administration of government contracts was subject to internal audits by the departments concerned, as well as by the Office of the Auditor General.
When I re-read that testimony, I draw a connection to the policy brief “A Guide to Reforming Information Technology Procurement in the Government of Canada”, which you released in October 2022 and submitted to this committee. I can only wonder about those vaunted analysis and audit tools, particularly whether or not they are useful and above all, how often departments use them. I also wonder about this obsession with working in silos.
Are the tools really useful at the end of the day, or do we need to completely overhaul the work methods?