Government Operations committee  That's definitely something we took into consideration. For the first time, we formed a selection committee outside the government. That committee included innovation experts, lawyers with knowledge in the intellectual property field, entrepreneurs with some knowledge of finance and certain representatives of companies operating in the field of innovation.

Government Operations committee  I would clarify one point because I have considered the same question. The process used to manufacture the gun has a significant impact on the environment. The company is proposing a method that has much lower impact at the stage at which the metal used in the device is treated.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm very pleased to reappear before you today to discuss one of the programs under my direction, which is the Canadian innovation commercialization program. We touched on this topic briefly during our appearance earlier this week and welcome the opportunity to speak about the program in more detail.

Government Operations committee  I might add, though, that because we are trying to increase the amount of data that's available out there, what a small business will be able to see, especially regionally, is that a company has an arrangement in place, and getting the business may be about accessing that company and becoming part of the supply chain for that company, as opposed to coming directly to the Government of Canada.

Government Operations committee  Just to be clear, I really can't comment on trade agreements. However, I can say that we do monitor procurement internationally. In fact, we participate in a trilateral chief procurement officers meeting. The U.K., the U.S., and Canada meet annually to discuss the issues we face.

Government Operations committee  I can't comment specifically on that. It is not my area of expertise.

Government Operations committee  First of all, and I think you're inferring it in your question, in Canada, we have a legal framework that respects all of our trade agreements, and we operate in that sense. The other piece I would have to say is that we already source domestically. Over the average of five years, $14.3 billion of procurement has been run through Public Works and Government Services.

Government Operations committee  I can't comment directly, but I can say that we take into account two things when these policies are being developed--the cost to the taxpayer of carrying out the transaction and the cost to the supplier as well. If a supplier has to spend $10,000 to prepare procurement documents for a competitive tendered process, it isn't worth the investment the supplier has to make in order to engage there.

Government Operations committee  Every contract has specific measures. There's no structured way of doing that. So contracts are negotiated, and we occasionally, working with Industry Canada, come up with industrial regional benefits. Those kinds of things affect how contracts are distributed and how they're managed.

Government Operations committee  For instance, we decided to eliminate jargon. That jargon was brought in by procurement experts. I had to learn it myself since I recently joined the department. We try to see through all of that to come up with simple and precise language. That is one of the objectives of the website.

Government Operations committee  Yes, the issue of competition for small and medium contracts is discussed. He conducted a study. I am not aware of the details and the data, but I could send more specific comments to the committee. I would say that departments have far more tools for most procurement contracts under $25,000.

Government Operations committee  Treasury Board—this is the policy—is responsible for the rules governing government contracts, and we apply those rules. We hear small and medium business managers say that the complexity of these rules makes it difficult to interpret how to access the procurement system. That is why we created the website, the seminars, etc.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, if I could add to the question on the bundling and the effort to do this commodity management, as we call it, it is to break down the 14 different areas in which the government does the majority of its procurement and to understand what the industry needs to know about what we buy.

Government Operations committee  There is no trend. There hasn't been a decrease, but there is no trend upwards or downwards.

Government Operations committee  First of all, it is very difficult to make the link between the service we provide and the number if we're changing the shape and volume of small businesses in terms of contracts. In terms of volumes, they have been pretty steady over the last five years. They're around 38,000 per year in terms of the number of contracts let to small to medium enterprises.