Thank you, Mr. Chair, the clerk and committee members, for inviting us to appear today regarding your study on the Auditor General's report on ArriveCAN.
My name is Chris Loschmann. I'm the director of Canadian government services at TEKsystems.
TEKsystems is a global provider of technology, business and talent solutions. We have over 100 locations worldwide and we partner with over 6,000 customers, including many Fortune 500 companies and public sector clients. We help our customers achieve their business goals through advisory, outcome-based and staff augmentation services. We pride ourselves on our core values and our fundamental commitment to excellence and integrity. We have worked hard to earn the trust and respect of our clients and to follow the rules when it comes to working with the government.
In March 2020, CBSA publicly posted an RFP for cloud engineering professional services. In June 2020, after submitting our bid and competing with three other bidders, TEKsystems was successful in securing this contract. The scope was to provide highly skilled IT professionals at the request of CBSA on an as-and-when-required basis to assist in deploying and maintaining its applications in cloud environments.
In May 2021, CBSA publicly posted another RFP competition for cloud cybersecurity services. In October 2021, after submitting our bid and competing against four other bidders, TEKsystems was awarded this second contract. The scope of the work was to provide IT professionals on an as-and-when-required basis to assist CBSA in performing cloud security assessments, vulnerability assessments and cloud security operations.
It's important to note that these contracts went through an open, fair and competitive process according to procurement rules and regulations. Neither contract was created specifically for ArriveCAN. Within the scope of these contracts with CBSA, TEKsystems was directed by CBSA to provide IT professionals for ArriveCAN. All the work we did on the app came at the direct request of CBSA, as it fell within the scope of these contracts.
Both of these contracts were ordered after the original rollout of ArriveCAN in April 2020. TEKsystems did not take part in the original development or set-up of the app. We also did not participate in the planning or management of any element of the delivery of ArriveCAN.
We provided highly sought-after professionals who were specialists in cloud networking and infrastructure services to help build and secure the platform that the application sits on, and we performed cloud-based, back-end development to strengthen and secure the application after its initial rollout. All our professionals go through a rigorous vetting process, including in-person meetings, reference checks and capability testing to make sure they have the skills to meet our clients' needs. We also make sure they have valid security clearance at the appropriate level.
At the request and direction of the CBSA, TEKsystems delivered $3.2-million worth of staff augmentation services for ArriveCAN. That was confirmed by the Auditor General and her report. We agree with her report and we co-operated with her investigation. Based on her findings, the findings of the procurement ombud and the previous testimonies already received at this committee, we would like to make the following points.
At no point did TEKsystems contact GC Strategies, Dalian or Coradix regarding any of the services provided to CBSA or the competition of CBSA contracts. We did not partner with any of these organizations for any IT professionals allocated for ArriveCAN or for any work done for CBSA. TEKsystems did not win any non-competitive contracts with CBSA, Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada or any other government department for any IT professionals we provided to CBSA for ArriveCAN. All of our contracts went through an open, fair and competitive bidding process that had multiple bidders. All of the professionals that TEKsystems provided to CBSA went through a rigorous vetting process, reference checks, technical ability screening and security clearance validation.
Our work with the federal government has always been in accordance with procurement rules, guidelines, policies and procedures respecting the integrity of public institutions. We have a defined public sector practice that invests in making sure we operate ethically and deliver value to our customers and Canadians. We invest significantly in training and compliance for our teams, including annual mandatory legal and ethical training, and third party international standard organization audits.
We're happy to work with the committee today to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.