Thank you, Ms. Fraser. We didn't wait to conduct a review. The Auditor General told us that it was important to determine whether there were any other potential conflicts of interest. So we essentially took a sample. Moreover, the person responsible for the file is here. We started with 500 contracts. Then we did a review of 50 of them. I emphasize that we used review parameters, as opposed to audit parameters. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, as I remember it, for at least 95% of the contracts, there were no third parties of a company. That's a good thing. I wanted to know whether that was common or exceptional. That wasn't very common. The people who prepare the contract specifications are often departmental people.
In addition, we knew that a consultant had been involved in one way or another in the specifications or part of the work on 28 of the 50 sample contracts, if I remember correctly. The analysis done revealed no conflict of interest. Measures had been taken to minimize the number of conflicts of interest or to ensure that there weren't any.
Lastly, I would like to emphasize that the Treasury Board policy permits a consultant to assist someone in preparing the specifications for a contract, provided certain measures are taken. Those measures essentially consist in full disclosure of any conflicts of interest. There is very clear documentation on the Treasury Board's expectations when someone decides to ask an outside third party to assist these people in preparing the specifications of a contract.