Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. The way you worded the question suggests that there were two companies. There wasn't a second company.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. There was no company associated with the second option. I am not sure company size is a factor that we consider. They made pre-qualified lists. They had to follow very specific rules with PSPC. In our decision-making around this, I am not in the habit of asking, of the hundreds of companies and vendors, how big each individual company is.

Government Operations committee  No, I did not.

Government Operations committee  I have not been coached today on what to say. There is an email that documents what I actually requested of Mr. MacDonald, in which I said that, leaning particularly on his time in the first year, when all of this was being stood up and the various moving parts, I would appreciate his view or additional edits to any of the material in preparation for the agency's appearance the following week.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. If memory serves me, there were more than 30 contractors—but I will ask the agency for the exact figure.

Government Operations committee  These types of organizations do security screening work. They do vetting. They connect. They have a network that can give you very, very quick access to the skills you need that would be impossible to get yourself in terms of contracting, finding them and getting in touch with them.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. Among the thirty or so contractors, there were many that were offering different things, and it did not always involve a staff increase. We worked with Amazon, for instance, for cloud computing. We also worked with Microsoft. Certain very specialized companies were offering security services for mobile applications, for instance, to help us interpret the certificates.

Government Operations committee  There are four contracts with GC Strategies. As I said, the first three were sole source and the last one was competitive. To my understanding, CBSA has already provided those contracts. Actually, those contracts are public knowledge. You can find those contracts, as well as who signed them.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I do. We delivered ArriveCAN in all its complexity. Without ArriveCAN and still using paper.... Different quotes were named. Mr. MacDonald said three dollars. I'll buy that number. Take 30 million successful submissions at ArriveCAN and multiply it. I think the math explains itself, in terms of $54 million versus paper.

Government Operations committee  My version is truthful. I never threatened Mr. MacDonald. I said that if we couldn't come to an answer, the committee may turn to—

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. What I said earlier is that I did not threaten Mr. MacDonald. I would like to clarify that. I did not threaten him. I said—

Government Operations committee  I asked Mr. MacDonald, who was there at the time—and this is in my briefing book—whether he could help clarify the facts and the situation during that very difficult period for the Canada Border Services Agency, in March 2020, because he was more in the loop than I was. We were preparing—

Government Operations committee  No. I was not aware that that direction was implied, and I'm not sure, even 48 hours later, that it was even a known thing. In terms of—

Government Operations committee  I've been an IT professional for 25 years, in my current role six years. For about five to six years I was the vice-president and chief information officer for CBSA.

Government Operations committee  From what I've learned and what I've seen, they have been providing services for a number of years to various departments.