What's happened is that there are other programs that NSERC does operate in this space, but the IRDI program was similar to what Mitacs did, and Mitacs had been delivering the IRDI internships already. This formalized the situation, where Mitacs would continue to deliver these internships, and we would have a sole source for delivering these internships to make it easier for both businesses and potential interns to navigate.
On June 7th, 2016. See this statement in context.