Government Operations committee  Sousa asked you earlier about whether you had been contacted by elected officials or public servants, you said that it was public servants. You said that was the case for the harassment application project and for the ArriveCAN project. Was that also the case for the COVID Alert app?

Government Operations committee  You were also contacted directly by public servants for the Botler AI harassment app and for the ArriveCAN app. Is that correct?

Government Operations committee  Yes, for the ArriveCAN app, that was PSPC. It was a government official who reached out to us. For Botler, nobody actually reached out to us. There was this understanding that there were harassment charges that were heavily publicized in the public safety portfolio.

Government Operations committee  Firth, I think I'll start with some of your previous testimony before this committee. In your previous appearance, when you were asked about the ArriveCAN situation and what it reveals about the government's contracting process, you said, “I don't think it reveals any[thing]. The reality is that it would have been a perfect execution if the four deliverables had been done on time and been of the standard the CBSA would have approved and paid.

Government Operations committee  When ArriveCAN came to be and the government was looking at trying to put this together, did you approach them, or did someone approach you?

Government Operations committee  You've already indicated how much you received for work you did related to the contracts for ArriveCAN. How much was that?

Government Operations committee  There was a great deal of information requested of you but not furnished to the committee. You promised to tell the committee who in government contacted you about ArriveCAN. That information hasn't been provided to us. You didn't disclose meetings with government officials, and you have failed to provide documentation that the committee has asked you for.

Government Operations committee  Has the RCMP contacted you about ArriveCAN?

Government Operations committee  Sir, how much did you state, in your previous appearance before this committee, that you were paid to work on ArriveCAN?

Government Operations committee  For the ArriveCAN application build, which is what we gave our numbers for to the committee last year, we said it was approximately $11 million. That was the application build.

Government Operations committee  Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(c) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, October 17, 2022, the committee is meeting to consider matters related to the ArriveCAN application. As always, I will remind you to not put earpieces next to the microphones, as that causes feedback and potential injury to our very vital translation department. Welcome back, Mr.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know if you were referring specifically to ArriveCAN when you mentioned crisis management. I have to say that our department did not have a public contract file called “ArriveCAN”. It is important to look at the context. We provided informatics services to the Canada Border Services Agency, and ArriveCAN was one of the various informatics tools and services provided to the Canada Border Services Agency.

Public Accounts committee  These audits found, in general, that the controls and the procurement process worked as they should. In the case of ArriveCAN, both the Auditor General and the procurement ombud have identified areas where we need to strengthen our oversight, notably related to documentation and to our procurement processes of IT consultants.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for again inviting us to discuss our report on ArriveCAN, which we released on February 12. I would like to acknowledge that this meeting is taking place on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. Joining me today is Sami Hannoush, who was responsible for the audit.

Public Accounts committee  This is an issue that, rightly so, we should be looking at. Indeed, the Auditor General had already signalled that ArriveCAN was of concern to her when we heard her after the first ArriveCAN report, which had to do with the actual value of the application itself. It did serve to save lives, because it did speed up and more accurately send out the information to provinces and territories regarding travellers who needed to be quarantined and so on.