Evidence of meeting #126 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was kpmg.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
I want to jump ahead to your current role with KPMG. Can you walk us through the risk management process when KPMG was considering being part of this contract?
Partner, Cybersecurity, KPMG
Absolutely, and my answer will apply to every contract we take on—or any engagement, as we call them.
To start any process, we run checks on the entity itself—we call it an “engaging party”. In this case the engaging end party was the CBSA. We also have to run KYC—know your customer or know your client—types of checks on any other intermediary that would be involved. In this case it was GC Strategies, so both are listed in what's called a “client acceptance process”. In that process they vet both the entities individually and then the engagement as a whole in consideration of the results of the entity process, if you follow me so far. That is a process that involves a series of questions that have to be answered, including the nature of the work, whether or not we audit the individual or the companies—obviously, that would be a red flag for our firm—and other factors. I don't know all the questions off the top of my head, but there are a number of questions, and as I mentioned, it goes through.... Every public sector engagement has a mandatory three partners on it: first, a lead delivery partner; second, a quality control partner; and third, a client acceptance partner—all vetting that the information has been filled out appropriately.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Through all of this process, there weren't any red flags that were raised. Is that correct?
Partner, Cybersecurity, KPMG
At that particular time, no red flags were raised throughout that process.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Has KPMG worked with GC Strategies on any other projects?
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
How about with Coradix, Dalian or Coredal?
Lydia Lee Partner and National Leader, Digital Health Transformation Practice, KPMG
Not to our knowledge, no.
Liberal
Patrick Weiler Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Thank you.
I guess my time is up.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
That's your time.
Thank you, Mr. Weiler. I appreciate that.
Ms. Sinclair‑Desgagné, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Bashir, I think the risk management and compliance process should perhaps be reviewed. By naming Kristian Firth, you should have seen that he worked at Veritaaq Technology House Inc. when it was accused of bid‑rigging in 2009. So his name should have appeared, and a red flag should have been raised.
In fact, in 2009, if I'm not mistaken, you were employed by the….
Where were you in 2009?
Partner, Cybersecurity, KPMG
Are you asking where I was as an employee of the federal public service?
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Yes. What department were you in?
Were you at Treasury Board?
Partner, Cybersecurity, KPMG
No. In 2009, that would have been Indigenous Services Canada. I believe it was called something different at the time—INAC.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
I just want to point this out, in case you weren't aware. In 2009, Mr. Firth worked at Veritaaq Technology House Inc., a company that was charged with bid‑rigging by the Attorney General. This should normally have been raised in the context of the broad processes you have just explained. So it's really too bad that it wasn't done.
Speaking of bid‑rigging, Donna Cona Inc. faced the same charge in 2009. Mr. Bernard, at the time, you indicated that, unfortunately, those accusations weren't true. I know the trial was stayed, but to my knowledge, Donna Cona Inc. was also not exonerated from these charges.
What do you have to say about the bid‑rigging charges that you've been subjected to?
Chief Executive Officer, Donna Cona Inc.
I believe you're speaking about the bid rigging. Is that correct?
Bloc
Chief Executive Officer, Donna Cona Inc.
Yes, we were accused, and all the accusations were dropped. We never had our day in court to defend ourselves or even to ask for an apology. It changed my life, being accused of something like this.
I have no other information on anybody else who was involved. I was asked, “If you have information, we will waive you,” or whatever. I said, “Well, I have no information because I know nothing about what you're talking about,” but we were accused at the very last minute.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Okay. How many employees do you have at Donna Cona Inc.?
Bloc
Chief Executive Officer, Donna Cona Inc.
We have 84 employees right now and probably about 200 or 300 other resources, like subcontractors, who work for us.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Are 84 employees enough to fill 22 contracts? In fact, since 2004, we've reached 1,098 contracts with the federal government.
Do you feel that you can do all that work, or do you have to subcontract a lot of it?