Government Operations committee  I believe that to be correct, with the possible exception of publicly available information that any of these companies or anybody else could use.

Government Operations committee  I'm just going to make a point of clarification. The department is not the repository for the lobbying registry.

Government Operations committee  I'm not aware of that particular meeting, but I would say that as part of the government's call to action, there was a very high volume of outreach to companies of all descriptions during that period.

Government Operations committee  I would have to look into that. It would likely be on the record, but I can't confirm that on the spot.

Government Operations committee  Those registrations are done by the individual, who has the obligation with the office of the registrar.

Government Operations committee  We are occasionally asked by the Commissioner of Lobbying to validate and check on that kind of information, so if it's in that context....

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  The answer is yes, there would be limitations on how that data can be used. It would vary, I think, from contract to contract, but there are provisions. Often the information we see from another country or another entity would be anonymized data. It would not have a company name or a country name.

Government Operations committee  I would note, Mr. Chair, that since the onset of the pandemic, there have been significant strides in Canadian-produced PPE, and the volume has shifted considerably towards Canadian suppliers.

Government Operations committee  The policy regime does have two levels. One is for domestic direct suppliers—the corporate entity with whom we're doing business—and one is for affiliates. These aren't about automatic ineligibility. The thresholds that I was talking about are what trigger a review of the process.

Government Operations committee  The minister has noted a few such examples, such as when we don't have access to the expertise, the skill sets in question, or it's not the type of skill set that we would need on our payroll on a permanent basis. It could be that we need it on a very time-limited basis for a defined period of time.

Government Operations committee  On the question of fairness, our default is to competitive processes. There's only a specific set of circumstances in which we move to non-competitive instruments. I mentioned one, the intellectual property. On transparency and openness, the bidding processes are very visible.

Government Operations committee  Four other firms use the instrument, the national master standing offer, and provide a benchmarking service like this. There are five in total.

Government Operations committee  I don't have the list on hand, but perhaps Ms. Royds can name them for you.

Government Operations committee  I would offer two points. Crown corporations have their own procurement authorities and typically work outside the services of PSPC. However, BDC, in one instance, did make use of our national master standing offer for benchmarking, in the amount of $3.4 million. That was one transaction we executed on its behalf, but that's more of an exception.