Mr. Chair, thank you for inviting us again to discuss our report on ArriveCAN.
I would like to acknowledge that this hearing is taking place on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
I am accompanied today by Sami Hannoush and Lucie Després, who were responsible for the audit.
Our audit of the ArriveCAN application looked at how the Canada Border Services Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada managed the procurement and development of the application, and whether they spent public funds in a way that delivered value for money.
You have heard the Auditor General emphasize how deeply concerned we are by what this audit didn’t find.
We didn’t find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why contracting decisions were made, and that paper trail should have existed. Overall, this audit shows a glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices throughout ArriveCAN’s development and implementation.
Government organizations needed to be flexible and fast in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they still needed to document their decisions and demonstrate the prudent use of public funds. In this audit, we found disappointing failures and omissions everywhere we looked.
Public servants must always be transparent and accountable to Canadians for their use of public funds. An emergency does not mean that all the rules go out the window and that departments and agencies are no longer required to document their decisions and keep complete and accurate records.
This concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.
Thank you.