Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.
As the deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, my team and I are here to continue the important discussion about the Auditor General's report into the development of the ArriveCAN application.
I'm joined today by Dominic Laporte, assistant deputy minister for procurement, and Catherine Poulin, assistant deputy minister for departmental oversight.
During the pandemic, my department played a key role in keeping the work of the Government of Canada going as well as providing key support to provinces and territories. We are particularly proud of our role with regard to the urgent procurement of critical supplies and life-saving vaccines. PSPC has been part of two large audits since the pandemic, one related to the procurement of personal protective equipment and the other to the procurement of vaccines. These audits found, in general, that the controls and the procurement process worked as they should.
In the case of ArriveCAN, both the Auditor General and the procurement ombud have identified areas where we need to strengthen our oversight, notably related to documentation and to our procurement processes of IT consultants.
We accept these recommendations in full and have already put management actions in place to strengthen our processes.
Right now, we are focused on improving and further strengthening our processes, especially when it comes to IT procurement. We have been working since the fall to do just that.
Actions we’ve taken to date include improving evaluation requirements to ensure that resources are appropriately qualified; requiring increased transparency from suppliers around their price and use of subcontractors; improving documentation when awarding contracts and issuing task authorizations; and clarifying work requirements and activities, specifying which activities and which projects are worked on by contractors. In addition, my department is updating its guidance to aid other departments and agencies in procuring responsibly when using our procurement instruments under their own authorities. Finally, PSPC is also taking measures to appoint a senior executive who will be responsible for quality assurance and strengthening documentation within PSPC.
Fundamentally, improving IT procurement requires us to ensure that those processes are clear and transparent and that the roles, responsibilities and rules are understood, respected and adhered to. This includes working closely with the Treasury Board Secretariat and client departments and agencies to ensure that procurements are undertaken in a manner that respects the principles of fairness, openness and transparency.
In this regard, both the Treasury Board directive on the management of procurement and PSPC's supply manual stipulate the division of roles and responsibilities. For example, departments—our clients—are responsible for providing a justification for using non-competitive procurements.
In the case of procurements related to ArriveCAN, the Auditor General’s evaluation found that PSPC effectively provided a challenge function to the CBSA and proposed various alternatives to using non-competitive processes, such as running shorter competitive processes or shorter contract periods in the case of the non-competitive approaches. Within the context of the emergency situation brought on by the pandemic, PSPC and our legal counsel found that the justification provided by the CBSA for their approach was sufficient and met the criteria for emergency use.
When it comes to a lack of transparency around decision-making, we are committed to addressing the root causes, strengthening document management practices and continuing the deployment of our electronic procurement solutions so that transparency in decision-making is ensured and Canadians and parliamentarians can have renewed confidence in the administration of federal procurement activities. New measures that we’ve put in place have already addressed a number of these areas. We continue to take action to further strengthen the procurement of IT services.
In closing, I know that there have been many concerns raised in the media and in parliamentary committees regarding federal procurement and the integrity of the system. We share those concerns and are actively working to improve the procurement system as well as undertaking required investigations where warranted.
The domain of procurement is one that inherently has higher levels of risks associated with conflicts of interest. That is why the government requires all of its suppliers, their subcontractors and all employees to operate lawfully and in a responsible manner by, at a minimum, meeting the expectations and obligations set out in the Code of Conduct for Procurement. For federal public servants, those expectations and obligations are outlined in the Code of Values and Ethics. Among other things, these codes require that all employees declare conflicts of interest, where applicable.
These codes provide important underpinnings and guiding principles for the work that is done in procurement. Ensuring respect and adherence to these codes is of the utmost importance.
Our actions will help reinforce the adherence to the codes, improve the way we do business with companies and further safeguard the integrity of the procurement system.
Thank you.
