Government Operations committee  Perhaps I'll start. When a government contract goes out to tender, it is required to outline the full scope of the requirement, including, as you mentioned, option years. It is not a requirement to exercise those option years, but they are available to mitigate risk for the government in the event that there is a need to no longer continue the services or to address other matters that may arise in the contract.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The position of the Government of Canada in ensuring that measures are taken to avoid employer-employee relationships has been a matter of policy for quite some time, both in our previous procurement policy, which was the contracting policy, and now reinforced in our new directive on the management of procurement, which came into effect in May of this year.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. As our area of responsibility is procurement policy, we do not actually do procurement ourselves, in my organization, so perhaps I'll move to Patrice to provide a more fulsome response.

Government Operations committee  Perhaps I'll start, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the question. I would say there's a broad range of expertise that the Government of Canada needs in order to deliver on its programs and services. It's not to say that that expertise may not reside in government, but in many cases that expertise either needs to be complemented or supported, or is only available for particular activities, and that needs to be augmented or supplemented.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. Unfortunately, I don't have the numbers in front of me, Mr. Chair. The information is available in the public accounts. We're happy to get back in writing with the specific numbers, if the committee wishes.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, there are a number of reasons why service contracts may need to be put in place. I mentioned the examples of nurses for temporary health care in northern Canada or firefighters for British Columbia. Also—

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. As I mentioned, the decision to procure rests with the departments. I would turn to the departments if you have questions regarding specific contracts that may have been put in place.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. As you highlight, Treasury Board does set the administrative policy framework for procurement, which is guided by principles of fairness, openness, transparency and integrity. Although TBS does set this policy framework, in practice the accountability rests with deputy heads.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. The administration of government contracts is subject to internal audits by the given departments, as well as the Auditor General. The findings of those reports are—

Government Operations committee  I cannot speak to the specifics of an individual audit, but the Government of Canada does make use of public servants for internal audits, and it does make use of contractors to conduct audits.

Government Operations committee  There are audits conducted by the internal audit organization of each departmental organization, many of which are published on their respective departmental websites. Of course, the Auditor General's reports are public for all. If there is a specific audit report this committee is interested in reviewing, I'm happy to take that away and have the department get back with a response.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Emilio Franco. I'm the executive director responsible for procurement policy within the office of the comptroller general at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. I'm pleased to be here today with my colleagues from Public Services and Procurement Canada, as well as Shared Services Canada.