Mr. Ferguson, earlier we were talking about the fact that a massive amount of money, some $377 million, was spent to design the Secure Channel infrastructure, which had a total price tag of $975 million. For a government set on balancing the budget, there are no savings to be had in this situation.
As we speak, do the departments have the staff to oversee the implementation of this computer system? If so, the government would not have to systematically hand over the bidding process to a private company, who would then be controlling another private company.
Do the departments and Treasury Board have the human resources that would be needed to contain these costs both now and in the future, because the price tag seems a bit too high to me?