No.
Evidence of meeting #83 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #83 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was work.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
No. Those two were accepted. That's why CBSA paid for it.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
It was the remaining four that were substandard. Is that correct?
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Was there ever an expectation on your part and Botler's part that this pilot project would lead to a government-wide acceptance of Botler AI, which would lead to a contract as I understand it from previous testimony that could have been north of $20 million?
Was there an expectation of that at GC Strategies and also Botler AI at any point, that this would lead to a larger contract in the tens of millions of dollars?
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
It would be naive of me to expect that. I have been doing this now for close to 20 years, and an enterprise sale for the federal government is very rare.
The truth was we were trying to make steps to at least be considered. It's “get yourself a pilot”; get yourself in other departments so you can at least start getting momentum, so you have a pathfinder. At that point there has to be a threshold, once you have been in enough departments, where it's cheaper to do an enterprise licence at a volume discount than it is to keep paying the licensing fee, but there is never a promise of an enterprise purchase. It would be naive of me to say that. I know how much work goes into that and what has to happen.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Why were you working with Botler AI? What was the motivation to work for them for two years without any formal agreement?
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
Right at that time there were civil suits and harassment cases being settled by the armed forces for $900 million. The RCMP were making settlements for $100 million for misconduct and harassment. This could have been an opportunity for all government employees to have a front line where they could have somebody, a bot, or somebody to speak to, to identify what the problems were and at least have some sort of sound voice to actually go up against.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you very much, Mr. Kusmierczyk.
Ms. Vignola is next for six minutes, please.
November 2nd, 2023 / 3:55 p.m.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Firth, as my colleague said, there may have been some conflating of the contract with Botler AI on harassment and the one on ArriveCan. Despite this, we need all the information to understand what links you to this, and above all, what your role was.
I'd like to know, for ArriveCan, whether you worked directly with Dalian Enterprises and Coradix Technology Consulting.
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
No, I did not. I never worked with Dalian and Coradix at all on any ArriveCAN work. They had their own contracts, and I had mine.
3:55 p.m.
Bloc
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
I'm sorry. I don't understand.
I was the prime contract, and we had five or six other subcontractors working below us, each delivering different parts for ArriveCAN.
3:55 p.m.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Did you know if your subcontractors had subcontractors themselves?
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
I was aware that they did not hire subcontractors. My subs did the work.
3:55 p.m.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
All right.
How do you ensure, not only for ArriveCan but in general, that you provide the federal government with adequate and accurate information on your subcontractors?
3:55 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
This involves interactions back and forth, so if we're using the subcontractors term as an individual, then there's multiple back and forth, validating and ensuring the information is accurate.
4 p.m.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
In that case, how do you explain that Ms. Dutt's and Mr. Morv's number of years of experience were increased on the resumés provided?
4 p.m.
Partner, GC Strategies
As I mentioned, that was a mistake. The wrong draft was sent through. There were multiple drafts moving back and forth between the ones.... There were three or four versions at any one time.
Again, I admit I unintentionally sent in the wrong version.