Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. If your question is about whether we will stop doing business with that specific company, I would like to tell you that the answer is yes. Currently, based on the standards, rules and approaches we use or the legislation, I cannot guarantee or tell you that will be the case.

Government Operations committee  Yes, that interaction happens with the client departments. That interaction happens primarily at the beginning of the process. The decision to invoke a national security exemption is taken early on in the procurement process. If a national security exemption is triggered, what that means is that we set aside all or part of that procurement from our obligation in a trade agreement.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. I'll admit that I'm not very familiar with FIPA. I will say that we have obligations in terms of trade agreements with numerous countries around the world, including with the World Trade Organization. Our approach in terms of procurement has been that unless there are specific needs or requirements, particularly in the area of security, our default is to open federal procurements to the international community.

Government Operations committee  I'm not sure we could answer that question. I think the issue of subsidies is a fairly complex one. As I was mentioning, I think a lot of different countries use a lot of different approaches or mechanisms to be able to support domestic industries, which are the subject of ongoing discussions at the World Trade Organization and other international fora.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. We are looking into the issue of government subsidies when it comes to many countries. That is often a point of friction with countries, not only with China, but also with other countries such as the United States or European countries. Different definitions of what is considered an acceptable subsidy or not are things we are looking into closely.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe the answer to that question is no. I will turn to my colleague, Catherine Poulin, to get confirmation.

Government Operations committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for your question. I don't know whether the question is for the representatives of Public Services and Procurement Canada, but I will answer it anyway. As mentioned earlier, since there was no security-related requirement to move forward, the procurement process used to award the standing offer retained Nuctech, one of the companies that submitted a bid, as one that met all the requirements.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, we all want to improve systems and ways of doing things to protect Canadians security. Issues had been raised about Nuctech, and we had information on that company. Unfortunately, in terms of procurement, we had limited options to award the standing offer, since the company has shown that it met all the requirements.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. A standing offer is essentially a pre-qualified tool where multiple suppliers have been selected to provide goods or services at predetermined prices under established or set terms and conditions. A standing offer is actually not a contract.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the question. I'm not sure if that was directed to Public Services and Procurement Canada, but I will start. From a procurement perspective, we do have the integrity regime, which is part of the work we do, as well as the contract security program, as I mentioned during my opening remarks.

Government Operations committee  With regard to both of these, in terms of contract security and integrity, I'll deal with the first one first. In terms of contract security, as I indicated, once we received the requirement from Global Affairs Canada, there was no security requirement associated with it; therefore, the procurement went ahead in the manner that it did.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. Procurement processes are based on security codes set by our client, which was Global Affairs Canada in this case. Our current procurement approach does not exclude companies from certain countries. Given that, at the time of the procurement, we had identified no security-related issues, the process went ahead.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. In the case of procurement concerning Nuctech, needs and their associated security levels were set by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. The department provided us with information given that, at the time, no potential security risk had been identified.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. Were we aware of the information relayed by the United States? Yes, we were. However, as I said, the process had no impact on security. Being in charge of procurement, we cannot know who will award or receive the potential contract. In this case, it was a standing offer and not a contract.

Government Operations committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, honourable members of the Standing Senate Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. Thank you for having me here today. My name is Lorenzo Ieraci, and I am the acting assistant deputy minister of the Procurement Branch at Public Services and Procurement Canada.