Public Accounts committee  I think there were a number of factors that we understood played into the evaluation through the CEPS vehicle—the COVID emergency professional services—to begin with, and then the subsequent awarding of the TA to KPMG. As I did mention, I have over 25 years of very in-depth direct experience in working with the health system in Canada in bringing that expertise forward and in particular in working with public health agencies around the country to help respond to the very critical role that the Public Health Agency was playing at that time, not only to monitor the COVID pandemic but also to put interventions in place to limit and contain the spread of the COVID virus, particularly focused on the important disease factor, which was, at that time, international travellers.

Public Accounts committee  I think that we did bring in unique and specialized expertise at that time to the Public Health Agency. As I said, among the key factors the Public Health Agency was looking at were the compliance and enforcement requirements that it and other government departments would need in order to monitor the policies that were being put in place under the Quarantine Act.

Public Accounts committee  The answer is no. KPMG has not participated in that process.

Public Accounts committee  The vast majority of the work we do for the government, whether federal, provincial or municipal, goes through a competitive bidding process following a request for proposals. As I said before, we would not be involved in developing those kinds of qualifications or criteria in advance of an RFP.

Public Accounts committee  As I said, KPMG always follows the specific procurement approach that is laid out by the government. Our federal government practice is familiar with all of those policies and procedures for all of the procurement activity that we do with the federal government.

Public Accounts committee  I am not aware of all of the details, specifically, of the steps you're talking about. However, as Mr. Nijjar and I have said, all of the contracting work we did was at the government's direction throughout the entire time we worked on the ArriveCAN service.

Public Accounts committee  I think there might be some confusion about the contracting relationship. The Public Health Agency contracted directly with KPMG, and I was the lead partner for that work during the two and a half years we supported the Public Health Agency. None of that work had anything to do with the ArriveCAN app or the relationship with GC Strategies.

Public Accounts committee  That is correct. Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for the question. I'll take that for the Public Health Agency-related work. Very specifically, when we were working under the initial TA—the COVID emergency professional services vendor of record—the very first time, we prepared an invoice. We worked extensively with the Public Health Agency and its internal team to make sure that the documentation on the invoice was satisfactory with its requirements to process the payment, and that it provided the level of detail required.

Public Accounts committee  I don't have the number off the top of my head, but I can say that over the close to two and a half years that we supported the Public Health Agency, we had a number of people. I was the engagement partner, but we had a number of people. On the original TA, we might have had 10 or 15 people who were identified and participated in some initial stakeholder engagement.

Public Accounts committee  I'm not aware of the answer to that question, but as I said before, KPMG has been very proud to support the federal government for a very long time, for many years, well before this body of work.

Public Accounts committee  We can certainly endeavour to check that out and follow up with the committee afterward if you'd like.

Public Accounts committee  I can answer that in respect of when clients reach out, and by the way, we've worked for clients at the federal level, the provincial level and the municipal level, in the public sector and in the private sector. I worked largely in the public sector health care arena. We find that when clients reach out to ask for consulting support, it's typically for two major reasons.

Public Accounts committee  KPMG has been doing business with the federal government for many years—

Public Accounts committee  With respect to the initial task authorization, as I said, we were direct-contracted through the CEPS vehicle that I mentioned earlier. For the subsequent contracts that were directly contracted through the Public Health Agency, we were under the impression that the Public Health Agency was providing documentation and justification to their contracting authority to provide the reasons for the direct award.