Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I first want to thank the Auditor General and the procurement ombud for their work. Their reports have pointed to significant gaps in procurement processes, roles and controls at the Canada Border Services Agency. I do not disagree with the term “glaring”. Their recommendations will serve as guideposts to addressing them.
CBSA's management response to both of these reports reflects the work we have already done and will be doing to make sure that all our procurement actions are aligned with policies and processes, that CBSA operates transparently and with regard for probity and value for money, and that all employees operate in a manner consistent with the CBSA's code of conduct and public service values and ethics.
You have our plan, but permit me to highlight three actions that I believe will have a material impact.
We have already created an executive procurement review committee to approve contracts and task authorizations. This is providing even more oversight on contracting activities.
We will require employees to disclose interactions with potential vendors.
We have increased the capacity of our procurement group both to oversee all procurement activities and establish a centre of expertise to help employees if they have questions or do not understand their authorities and obligations.
Of course, we are also actively improving our internal management practices more broadly. Following Treasury Board policies is a cornerstone to effective public administration, and effective public administration is critical to maintaining the trust of Canadians.
I hesitate to say the following, because it might sound like an excuse. It's not. The ArriveCAN app was built during an extraordinary time and on an emergency basis. I know that the CBSA was working as quickly as possible at the request of the Public Health Agency to replace a paper-based process that was not meeting their needs and was clogging the border. Having been at the Treasury Board Secretariat at that time, I know that the direction was for departments to take action and, if needed, move front-end controls to the back, to be biased in favour of action. But this same direction also stressed the requirement that exigent decisions and actions be documented. As the Auditor General and I have each discovered, this direction was not followed.
The absence of documentation is what is giving rise to these serious questions. Without a doubt, people were moving fast, but that doesn't justify cutting and pasting contracted resources experience directly from statements of work or collaborating with a company on a document they will eventually build on.
I want to assure you that I am doing everything I can to get a clear picture of how all of this unfolded. But I am also looking to the future.
The Auditor General's 2021 report recognized that the manual process had limitations and was not giving Public Health access to the information it needed, when it needed it. The Auditor General found that the government improved the quality of the information it collected, and how quickly it was collected, using the app. But as I have said, it's not okay that decisions were not documented, that procurement files were incomplete and that proper processes were not followed.
This audit points to significant gaps, and I do not put that at the feet of the pandemic.
So, we have a lot of work to do but I can tell you that the CBSA is comprised of dedicated and talented people. We will be united in this effort to improve our processes and maintain Canadians' confidence and trust as we continue to deliver on our important mandate.
Thank you.