With regard to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) and information technology (IT): (a) what policies and procedures are in place to ensure independent assessment and oversight, as well as ensuring value-for-money, on IT projects over $2.5 million; (b) does the TBS have a policy regarding the role of research (IT database subscription services), benchmarking and value-assurance services in IT, and, if so, what is that policy; (c) how many contracts are currently in place for research (IT database subscription services), benchmarking and value-assurance services in IT; (d) what is the total value of the contracts in (c); (e) how many suppliers does the TBS use for research (IT database subscription services), benchmarking and value-assurance services; (f) of the suppliers in (e), how many suppliers include retired civil servants from the government; (g) what steps does the TBS take to ensure these service providers aren’t conflicted through partnerships, alliances, downstream implementation conflicts and other contractual arrangements; and (h) did the TBS request research, benchmarking or value-assurance services for the development of the ArriveCAN app, and, if so, what are the details of what was done?
In the House of Commons on December 12th, 2023. See this statement in context.