Government Operations committee  I'll answer on two fronts. First of all, many of the standards we do are referenced in regulation, so that regulator would enforce the use of that standard within their regulatory regime. So that's one piece. We'll write a standard, but we're doing a standard that will be referenced in regulation.

Government Operations committee  No. When we've had those discussions it has been very much about removing certification. It's uncertifying, so they no longer can claim that they meet the standard. That's the role we've played. In terms of the enforceability, that's the discussion we have with the departments that use the standards.

Government Operations committee  Certainly. In February 2013 Health Canada approached us to prepare a national standard for radon mitigation in residential buildings. It was part of the implementation of a Canadian strategy designed to refocus efforts to encourage indoor radon testing and the reduction of indoor radon levels.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely. The U.S. standard doesn't work, so that's why we're moving to a standard that's more adapted to our situation.

Government Operations committee  We do the certification process. So you'll come to me, an organization will come to our organization and request to be certified under that standard. That's part of the certification side of what we do. We don't write the ISO 9000 standard, but we go and accredit or certify that an organization meets that standard.

Government Operations committee  To be clear, we run the process that allows a standard to be established, so we don't set standards per se. What happens is someone comes in with a need. We pull together the committee to ensure that the technical committee can develop the standard. The committee is the one that develops the standard, but we'll facilitate the public comment period, all that.

Government Operations committee  On the fees, I'll ask my colleague to look for that information. The cost recovery is done from those who ask us to develop a standard, for instance. Back in the 2010 evaluation of the program, we had already instituted cost recovery, but they asked us to move to a full cost recovery organization.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning. I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss the Canadian General Standards Board, or CGSB, and how it engages Canadians in developing standards and providing conformity assessment services to meet the national interest. With me is Desmond Gray, the senior executive responsible for the Canadian General Standards Board, or CGSB, one of the organizations under his direction, within the Acquisitions Branch of Public Works and Government Services Canada.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question, Mr. Chair. First of all, I'll speak to Buyandsell.gc.ca. That has become the Government of Canada site for all small and medium-sized businesses, and actually all businesses, to see how to do procurement with the Government of Canada. We have a lot of information on there to guide anyone through the system so they understand what we're buying and what kind of business is already being done with the Government of Canada.

Government Operations committee  We are on track to meet that requirement. Through our office of small and medium enterprises we do a lot of outreach work to small and medium-sized enterprises so that they understand how to do business with the Government of Canada. The volume is on the value. The 70% is the value of non-military procurement.

Government Operations committee  Buyandsell.gc.ca is where you access all tender information. Under the old system, which was administered by a third party, Mediagrif, and which is called MERX, in that system when you downloaded a tender document, you were identified and anybody could see that you had downloaded it.

Government Operations committee  That's correct and that's a capability we're putting in place. It's not in place yet, but we are building that now.

Government Operations committee  Currently, I use the staff of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises in the regions. We are trying to expand that team. Representatives from other departments also participate. Often, representatives of the Department of National Defence join us at those meetings in the regions.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. Happy holidays to everyone.

Government Operations committee  That's right. But one of the gaps—and this is the gap we're trying to fill—is that first buy by the government. That is the most difficult thing to do, and that's what this is for, to facilitate that first buy. It's—