Good afternoon.
Let me start by thanking the chair, the clerk and all committee members for the invitation to be here today.
We at BDO Canada appreciate the importance of this issue. That's why we're happy to answer any questions you may have.
My name is Mike Abbott. I'm the managing partner of markets and industry for BDO Canada. I'm a member of our firm's executive, reporting directly to our CEO.
One of my mandates is to head up our firm's industry program, including our public sector business, and all of our federal government work. We provide a variety of services and solutions to government departments, agencies and Crown corporations, in the same manner as we do for private sector organizations. Our work with the Canada Border Services Agency is provided largely through a standing professional services contract awarded to BDO in September 2020, following a competitive procurement process. Under the terms of that contract, CBSA can call upon BDO personnel to provide services in six specific resource categories. The nature of that work includes management consulting, business architecture and design, risk management, and other advisory services for business and technology projects.
This is how we were first engaged directly at BDO to support the ArriveCAN project in November 2020. Overall, our work consisted of two narrowly defined streams. Our primary stream of work, directly for CBSA, was focused on management consulting and strategic advice, contending largely with accessibility issues of ArriveCAN. The government recognized that it needed ArriveCAN to be accessible for Canadians with visual and hearing impairments and other usage challenges. This work was technically complicated, but our team worked with dedication to achieve the requested results. This stream accounted for about 85% of our work on the project.
The second stream was conducted by our Lixar division. That was done as a subcontractor through GC Strategies, which had been contracted by CBSA. This accounted for 15% of our work on the project. This work specifically consisted of getting access to our data scientists, our programming and our application builders around optical reading and reader technology.
In total, BDO's work represented a little less than 5% of the overall total attributed to the ArriveCAN project by the Auditor General. All of this was completed in compliance with applicable terms and conditions based on statements of work and supported by time sheets and other administrative details.
The Auditor General raised no questions with respect to the value for money we provided or with respect to the completeness of our administrative practices or paperwork. It is also true that this work took place under unprecedented conditions due to the pandemic, with an incredible sense of urgency. Having worked with CBSA, we appreciated the vital importance of supporting the safe movement of people and goods in the midst of this health crisis.
We felt acutely that our work for CBSA mattered. However, none of that meant it had to come at the expense of appropriate controls, and we took steps to ensure that, for our part, it did not.
Again, we recognize the importance of this committee's work in reviewing the Auditor General's study and, in that respect, would welcome any questions you might have.
Thank you.