Government Operations committee  Good morning. Season's greetings. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet with the committee and talk to you about Telfer research focusing on the engagement of SMEs in federal procurement. As noted, my name is Barb Orser. I'm a full professor at the Telfer school of man

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the questions. Certainly, there is a perception that majority female-owned firms in terms of the entrepreneurs are discouraged from applying for contract opportunities. This is evidenced in the two large-scale national initiatives I mentioned: the 2003 task force an

Government Operations committee  Thank you. With respect to metrics, StatsCan, ironically, has some of the best metrics in the world when it comes to measuring the profile of women-owned firms, but this information is not currently captured in any kind of contract. Yet we do that in many other kinds of contract

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Yes. I know Mary Anderson. We work with WBE, WEConnect Canada, and WEConnect International as a friend of those organizations, periodically employing our students to take on research. I'll share a piece of research we did for WEConnect International. This is the largest global c

Government Operations committee  As a good academic, I'd say both.

Government Operations committee  We know that in the U.S. the 25% commitment to SMEs has been met. We know that we are—

Government Operations committee  It is onerous, but I think the commitment by the federal government to engage SMEs has impacted that—

Government Operations committee  Pardon?

Government Operations committee  It was a set-aside for SMEs—

Government Operations committee  That's okay.

Government Operations committee  I would suggest that the more transparent and the easier the language.... All the things you've mentioned are a must in order to engage more SMEs in the process. Certainly, on the aboriginal file, the ceiling is low; there's a concern about the amount of the contract. I also thi

Government Operations committee  It has been an iterative process. It started after the war with vets, and then moved to disabled vets, and then to minority businesses and urban businesses, and then to women businesses 20 years ago. They've had a long legacy of building this program, but I'll give a caution to C

Government Operations committee  No. My suggestion is that I think Canadian taxpayers and small business owners would appreciate a more robust set-aside program that is monitored and that holds PSPC accountable to our targets.

Government Operations committee  Could I make one comment with regard to your questions?