Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
Before I begin, I acknowledge that we're gathered today on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.
Joining me today from PSPC is Dominic Laporte, assistant deputy minister for procurement.
I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me today to speak to the findings of recent reports related to the contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company.
Public Services and Procurement Canada takes these reports, including those tabled by the procurement ombud and the Auditor General of Canada, very seriously. We are actively working to strengthen procurement practices in response to its recommendations. Most of them have already been put in place.
I'll note that no instances of political interference, wrongdoing or fraud have been found by the numerous internal and external reports on this matter. Nonetheless, the findings of these reports give us an opportunity to improve our processes when it comes to professional services.
I can tell you that Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC, continues to work with client departments and agencies to address these concerns and is implementing measures that strengthen and streamline oversight and controls.
Mr. Chair, we know that, to ensure value for taxpayer money, our processes and decisions must be clearly documented. We're committed to transparency.
With this in mind, we have already taken immediate improvements in our processes and procedures. For example, this spring PSPC created the contract quality and records compliance office. This new function helps to ensure that procurement policies and processes are followed and that business decisions are properly documented. So far this new office has launched tools for peer-to-peer supervisor and director reviews of files and has established governance to review the findings and to develop action items where required.
With regard to the issue of the contracting vehicle used for McKinsey benchmarking services, as this committee has heard, establishing a non-competitive national master standing officer was a long-standing approach that has been in place for many years.
That said, we recognized that competition is the norm and a review of this procurement vehicle was overdue. These procurement instruments have expired and are no longer in place. PSPC is now requiring that the professional services covered by this vehicle be subject to competitive bidding.
Recent reports concerning McKinsey also raised concerns about the issuance of security clearances to contractors.
Let me echo previous assurances provided to the committee by our deputy minister in May that all the McKinsey resources added through task authorizations as part of the contracts reviewed by the procurement ombud had the required security level to perform the work and access sensitive information and assets.
To address the underlying issue of insufficient documentation, we require confirmation that proof of security clearances has been received from clients before any work is undertaken going forward. These requirements are reflected in a new mandatory checklist that now needs to be completed for all professional service procurement files.
In addition, PSPC has addressed the Auditor General's recommendation regarding conflicts of interest. Although conflict of interest provisions were already included in the department's code of conduct, PSPC has since modified its guidance and tools to integrate obligations into the department's procurement process for professional services. Technical experts and procurement specialists who play a key role in awarding contracts must reaffirm that they don't have any conflicts of interest at various steps in the process.
Finally, in April my department launched a new sector to ensure better oversight, consistency and control over the procurement of all categories of professional services. This new sector underscores our commitment to enhancing efficiency and transparency and to fostering innovation in government procurement processes while delivering value for Canadians.
Mr. Chair, these are only a number of important measures we implemented over the last few months to address concerns around procurement of professional services.