Government Operations committee  As I noted, there are a range of different benchmarking methodologies and services. McKinsey comes with a certain tool kit of methodologies and data sets that it can use. They're used often by service-providing organizations. Employment and Social Development Canada has used these services to compare its offerings to those of other peer organizations.

Government Operations committee  They are very valuable. As my colleague Mollie alluded to, they were particularly useful earlier, during the pandemic, to facilitate and speed up the procurement process by doing some of it in advance, having that work ready to go and finalizing contracts on the remaining pieces under those two instruments.

Government Operations committee  Unfortunately, I'm only in a position to speak to the contracts issued by Public Services and Procurement, which were the 24 I mentioned. The Treasury Board Secretariat is doing further work to gather the information on departments and what did individually with their own authorities.

Government Operations committee  We are looking back to 2011.

Government Operations committee  Yes, that's correct.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. In those cases, the use of the instrument was not related to an emergency, but to an intellectual property issue, as part of the benchmarking process. The instrument was used by other departments as well, including the Department of National Defence.

Government Operations committee  As was mentioned previously, the 24 contracts, with the exception of two, were administered by PSPC, but we had client departments for whom we were putting these contracts in place. Beyond that, there are contracts that individual departments would do within their own delegations.

Government Operations committee  They are both instruments to use to help facilitate procurements. The supply arrangements, as I mentioned, do some of the steps of a procurement in advance, particularly the pre-qualification of companies. They would be put on a list for a range of services, but it does not constitute a contract.

Government Operations committee  Thanks again for the question. When I was talking about data, I wasn't talking about data on the Government of Canada's activities. I meant data related to other organizations, such as the provinces or other countries, the United States or European nations, for example. The data is used to compare the government's activities to that of other organizations.

Government Operations committee  As I was indicating, the bar for an affiliate of a Canadian company is a conviction. There are some activities that we can pursue. If it is the direct activity of a Canadian direct supplier, a charge against a company would also be a trigger for an integrity action—

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question. I mentioned that there are a range of companies with whom we have arrangements for benchmarking services. They each hold different proprietary tools and instruments that would be used to compare different aspects of government activity. Whether it's an internal corporate service function or a client- or citizen-facing service, it would be datasets that would compare the cost structure, for example, of that activity to those of other organizations and give a guide to some continuous improvement work that a department might be doing.

Government Operations committee  McKinsey, as I understand it, has nine techniques or data analytic tools they deploy in circumstances like this. Again, other companies would have different tool kits. They would have areas of specialization when it comes to IT systems versus business models and strategies. It would be up to departments to choose which benchmarking approach and tool would be best for the circumstances in question.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Minister. I would start by indicating that these instruments that we spoke of before—standing offers or supply arrangements—are ways of facilitating procurements that can be very complex, as the minister noted. These instruments allow some of that work to be done ahead of time, such as pre-qualifying suppliers so that there are fewer steps needed to complete an actual contract when there's a defined need for the services.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question. Any additional contracts that would be ongoing are the ones that my colleague Mollie mentioned might be the responsibility of other departments, which have not yet been recorded in the system. That's where we would see newer activity. The number of contracts issued by PSPC that we have on record, current and ongoing, is 24.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. The notion of pro bono work is not something that we entertain as part of PSPC's contracts. That, I guess, could be a question directed at other departments for relationships that they have, but I'm not in a position to speak to what other departmental practices would be.