Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for your kind invitation to take part in the important work of this committee. I also want to thank you for all your efforts to serve Canadians. I would also like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg peoples.
With me today are my deputy minister, Arianne Reza; Scott Jones, president of Shared Services Canada; assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer of Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC, Wojo Zielonka; and chief financial officer of Shared Services Canada, Scott Davis.
Others will be joining us for the second hour of the meeting, if it ends up taking place. They are Simon Page, assistant deputy minister; Catherine Poulin, assistant deputy minister; Michael Mills, assistant deputy minister, Procurement Branch; and Daniel Mills, assistant deputy minister, Enterprise IT Procurement and Corporate Services Branch.
I am pleased to be here to discuss supplementary estimates (B) for Public Services and Procurement Canada and Shared Services Canada.
This is the first time I am appearing before you as Minister of Public Services and Procurement. I hope to be able to enlighten you on many important topics, including the progress we are making on the Canada dental plan to reduce the cost of dental care for families, the progress we are making on improving the delivery of many services, and the steps we are taking to improve the supply of social and affordable housing, to name a few.
Before I respond to questions regarding the specifics of our requests in the supplementary estimates (B), I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank the committee for its ongoing study of ArriveCAN. I have also been following developments and receiving updates from my officials, in order to better understand the various elements of this matter.
First, I would like to be clear on the division of roles and responsibilities. PSPC is the government's common service provider when it comes to contracting. This does not mean PSPC handles every contract from every government department or agency. It does handle the larger and more complex contracts. PSPC also identifies qualified suppliers for a wide variety of goods and services so other departments and agencies can then enter into their own contracts under their own authorities to meet their own needs. While, for instance, the Canada Border Services Agency, as you heard, oversaw the development and deployment of the ArriveCAN app, PSPC developed the contracting tools and supplier lists that could be used for that project, or for any other project the agency determined was necessary.
Mr. Chair, we know there is always room for improvement in our processes, which is why we are taking immediate steps to ensure these processes are working as they should be. PSPC is validating the security of resources who worked for GC Strategies, Coradix Technology and Dalian Enterprises under contracts over the last 12 years, as requested.
Mr. Chair, this is a significant undertaking that is still under way.
To date, PSPC has received information on 3,000 consultants associated with the contracts. Audits conducted to date have confirmed that 99% of consultants have the appropriate security clearance. In terms of other resources, the review is ongoing.
In addition, given the nature of the allegations, my department has asked the chief security officers of all departments that hold active contracts with these suppliers to verify that the resumés, or CVs, of the consultants assigned to these contracts are fair and free of exaggeration.
In addition, my officials have asked to be apprised of the results of these audits, in which they will determine whether overstating on CVs is a widespread problem. If that is the case, action will be taken.
In this regard, my officials have informed me of the work they are already doing to strengthen procurement instruments, particularly in the area of professional services.
In the short term, they will put additional controls in place to further strengthen the administration of procurement instruments. Among other things, they will require the accuracy of CVs and resources assigned to contracts to be confirmed, and that procurement officers across government undergo additional training.
My department is working with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to update and improve procurement training.
These are some of the initial steps that are being undertaken.
In addition, I'm confident that the work you are yourselves undertaking, informed by the reviews of the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman and Auditor General, will significantly help to identify potential ways to improve further procurement processes, controls and better value.
Mr. Chair, I have used my time during my opening remarks to focus on issues related to the integrity of the procurement process, as I know this topic is of interest to this committee. Nonetheless, I recognize that my officials and I have been asked to speak to you about the requests in our supplementary estimates (B), and we would be pleased to do so.
To sum up, to support our activities, we are requesting access to additional funding of $229 million for Public Services and Procurement Canada and $53 million for Shared Services Canada through supplementary estimates (B).
My officials and I would be pleased to discuss all related topics, including the e-procurement system, the work we're doing to improve access to dental care, the delivery of services under the Public Service Health Care Plan and the supply of affordable housing.
I look forward to answering your questions and working with this committee.