Government Operations committee  That's correct.

Government Operations committee  I believe this is the contract that was awarded on December 18, 2020 for ArriveCAN to meet the accessibility requirements of the Government of Canada. That contract had a value of $5.9 million, and $4.8 million of it was actually committed for work. The contract was covered by a national security exemption that was in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its national security implications for Canada.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I started answering the question a bit earlier. In effect, GC Strategies—

Government Operations committee  Sorry, Mr. Chair, but I'm just consulting my notes to see if I have that information.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. GC Strategies as a company has been registered in a supply arrangement with PSPC for a number of years. The task-based informatics procurement, or TBIPS, supply arrangement is where they're presently registered. They are a tier 2 supplier, which requires them to have done business for a minimum of three years and to have proven invoices for over $12.5 million in historic contracting in the domain in which they're being assessed to be able to provide services.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, that would depend on the nature of the work specified and the task authorization in the contract. It would vary from contract to contract, but it could be anywhere from “enhanced reliability” up to “secret”.

Government Operations committee  Not to my knowledge.

Government Operations committee  Could you repeat that number, please?

Government Operations committee  Thanks for the question, Mr. Chair. In effect, the waiving of the individual security clearance would be highly situationally dependent. Without the details of that particular task authorization, I can't speak to the specifics of why that might have been the case. Generally speaking, how these professional services contacts are used and how the resources in them are employed is a business requirement that's established by the client departments we work with.

Government Operations committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. PSPC is familiar with all of the contractors that we have arrangements with. For confidentiality reasons, the Government of Canada doesn't disclose the names of companies that have worked as subcontractors for one of its suppliers, as it is considered third party information.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that, Mollie. In terms of examples, there are a number of different types of contracts that we enter into on behalf of our clients. One that I would draw attention to is a series of supply arrangements. In order to make the procurement process more efficient across government, PSPC, as a common service provider, makes those available and departments use them to be able to contract a little more efficiently and quickly by using some elements that we've done the groundwork for.