Health committee  There's clearly a link with what comes in. From a procurement perspective, it gets delivered to the Public Health Agency, as the member indicated. They would then have an intake process in terms of inspecting, counting and warehousing, all of those things, and then a process to allocate it out.

Health committee  We have an ongoing dialogue with PHAC on orders. We received several larger orders from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which we are calling collaborative buys with provinces and territories. I think the most recent—and Arianne can correct me here—came on April 9. It's a big bulk order that they are looking to fill over a number of months.

Health committee  The test the member referenced, which was also referenced earlier this week, is one that I referenced in my remarks about Spartan, an Ottawa-based company that has recently been awarded a contract. This is new technology. I have no comments or opinion on the volume of testing required, but this company is scaling up a new business line.

Health committee  Again, we're starting up here. We're hoping to hit full production in July. There's a gradual ramp-up. Again, it's new technology, so we're working with them to get that up and running. We're all anxious to get that going. The delivery details are being worked out, but we're hoping they hit full production scale by July.

Health committee  The government's approach to securing those goods is probably a better question for our colleagues from Health Canada and PHAC. I can tell you that PSPC, as a purchaser of these kinds of drugs, has historically been a fairly small player. We do have some activity. It's one that we expect will ramp up in the near feature.

Health committee  It's a multi-part answer. The product is coming in every couple of days. A lot of it comes from China, so we have arranged for fairly regular flights to come from Shanghai into Canada as the product is ready. Now we're seeing a pretty steady flow of products coming out of our orders in China particularly.

Health committee  The process would be as follows. There would be an inspection of the goods once they arrive in Canada at the Public Health Agency warehouse. There is actually some specific testing that happens for N95s. There is a quality check there. That process takes a couple of days. It then goes out to the provinces, so we're looking to accelerate that.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we can talk about how the strategy in this area has changed since day one. I did mention in my opening remarks that this notion of putting in longer-term contracts with a variety of suppliers to ensure a steady stream of arrival of goods is important.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon and thank you for having me and my officials here with you today to talk about the role of Public Services and Procurement Canada in the government's response to COVID-19. Before I begin I would like to thank the people behind the scenes who are making this meeting possible, including our language interpreters who continue to do an exceptional job in ensuring that Canadians have the most recent information.

Government Operations committee  The only thing I would add is that the department has been in growth mode for two reasons during the last couple of years. The member already mentioned Phoenix. There has been significant growth there. The other issue that's causing growth is the parliamentary precinct long-term vision and plan, massive projects staffing up there as well.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I want to make one clarification. Thank you. Page 58 of the departmental results report actually answers the member's last question, so I would just leave it at that.

Government Operations committee  Certainly, and I'll be very quick. The pay pod is a vehicle used to reorganize our work to deal with the backlog. NextGen is a new procurement. They're going through a pilot phase but they're going to be testing live, fresh pay transactions as part of the test case. Pay pods are very much about the existing backlog and how we work through that, so they're not related at this stage.

Government Operations committee  It's just there for use. I'm not aware of one where there's a charge. Obviously, if the recharging station is in a secure zone, you wouldn't have public access for that.

Government Operations committee  It's a broader portfolio issue. It doesn't get tied to one specific project. It's just a source of funds. It's part of the bank account; that's the way I would describe it.

Government Operations committee  I would characterize the funding formula a little differently than the member. We put forth a plan to Treasury Board that covers all of our buildings and major investments as well. Treasury Board then looks at the money we can reinvest from other sources, this being one of them, and then we are effectively funded for the balance.