Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Emilio Franco. I'm the executive director responsible for procurement policy within the office of the comptroller general at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
I'm pleased to be here today with my colleagues from Public Services and Procurement Canada, as well as Shared Services Canada.
I will begin by explaining how the Treasury Board Secretariat supports the management of investments and procurement.
The Office of the Comptroller General is responsible for providing functional direction and assurance on financial management, the management of our services and acquired assets, and internal audits across government.
Specifically with respect to services and acquired assets, the Office of the Comptroller General provides policy and guidance to investment planning, projects and procurement.
Government procurement ensures that the Government of Canada has the necessary tools and expertise to successfully deliver programs and services, while ensuring best value to the Crown through fair, open and transparent processes.
The procurement of services is used to complement the work of Canada's professional public service and enables the government to acquire special expertise and meet fluctuations in workload. Shortages in certain groups and specific geographic locations also make the use of professional services necessary to maintain operations. For example, service contracts are put in place for nurses to deliver temporary health care in northern Canada, where support is critically needed. Service contracts are also put in place for firefighters brought in to help quell forest fires in British Columbia. The government also requires services to operate and maintain our assets and facilities, such as cleaning our buildings and repairing our vehicles.
While Treasury Board sets the policy direction for government procurement, deputy heads of federal organizations are responsible for ensuring the resources are in place to deliver on their respective organizations' mandates. This means that the decision to use procurement to meet operational requirements rests with the departments and falls under the responsibility of the respective deputy head. Ultimately, departments must exercise due diligence and the effective stewardship of public funds when awarding contracts, which are required to be issued in a fair, open and transparent way in accordance with the Treasury Board's policies, laws, regulations, guidelines and frameworks concerning procurement.
In closing, let me reiterate that procurement is an essential part of how the Government of Canada delivers programs and services to Canadians. The government has the processes, systems and controls in place to ensure that procurement is conducted in a manner that upholds the values of fairness, openness and transparency while meeting public expectations in ensuring best value.
Thank you again for the invitation today. I would be happy to answer your questions concerning the Government of Canada's procurement policies.
I'll pass it to my colleague.