Government Operations committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I am pleased to be here today on behalf of Public Works and Government Services Canada, or PWGSC, to discuss the department's 2014-15 supplementary estimates (B) and its 2013-14 departmental performance report. With me today

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. I'm going to ask Ms. Chahwan to answer that.

Government Operations committee  For that I will turn to Mr. Mongeau, the ADM of real property.

Government Operations committee  It depends, Mr. Chair, on the minister. The tendency is that the minister attends the main estimates with the deputy, but it depends on the minister. Some ministers attend other appearances such as supplementary estimates, but usually it's the main estimates.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. PWGSC remains committed to providing cost-efficient accommodations to the public service. The current methodology was deemed to be a bit complex, not integrated. We had adjustments for price and volume. What you see in the supplementary es

Government Operations committee  Go ahead.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. It is, indeed, a very good one. With lapsed funding, when you look at the number, the number doesn't say much. In order to conclude whether it's a legitimate lapse or not, I think we need to look at the program and whether the program is p

Government Operations committee  Well, there is inflation involved in the number—let me deconstruct for you very quickly—

Government Operations committee  Situations like this happen. PWGSC processes over 60,000 contracts a year. We are sued for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we win and sometimes we don't. In this situation the contract that followed was based on a competitive process awarded in 2009 to Brookfield Global Relocatio

Government Operations committee  In a stable environment in which we don't have inflation and we don't fluctuations in demand—

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. This contract involved three departments. National Defence's share is $28 million; the RCMP portion is $4.2 million; the Treasury Board Secretariat portion is $2.8 million. A settlement with Envoy was reached on October 25, 2013 and—

Government Operations committee  You're touching here on the fundamentals in terms of planning of the programs and the reallocation of space resources, so I would turn to Monsieur Mongeau to answer the question.

Government Operations committee  Our lease agreements are competitive. In our financial analysis, we definitely consider the costs of all the benefits and drawbacks. That is how we decide where we will lease a property.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, committee members, I am pleased to be here today as the Chief Financial Officer of Public Works and Government Services Canada, or PWGSC, to discuss the department's 2014-2015 supplementary estimates (C). With me are Brigitte Fortin, Assistant Deputy Minister of the A

Government Operations committee  We have a contract with SNC-Lavalin that is expiring. The contract has been renewed. My colleague Pierre-Marc Mongeau could tell you more about that.