Public Accounts committee  I wouldn't say many, I would say a select few.

Public Accounts committee  They would have been Jim Ewanovich and Deputy Gauvin, me, along with a number of other people.

Public Accounts committee  I guess you'd have to talk to Chief Superintendent Doug Lang, because he's the only one who issued an order to Frizzell.

Public Accounts committee  I'd only say that laptops are reusable within the organization, so if the data was eliminated from that, it would be because the laptop would be redeployed to another individual within the organization, rather than declare it surplus. So is it unusual? No. Is it unusual in this case?

Public Accounts committee  Well, here's our values statement: it says integrity, honesty, professionalism, compassion, respect, and accountability. In an organization such as the RCMP, we're not about head-hunting, we're not about career assassination; we're about trying to help people move on to another life.

Public Accounts committee  No. I think if you look at the letter I sent in January, I think with our RCMP Act and the other regulatory bodies we have watching us and even with the Financial Administration Act, I encourage people to come forward within our own system, first. We have a pretty structured process.

Public Accounts committee  In our world we empower people to make decisions through the delegated authorities. If those people failed to brief Mr. Gauvin, they should be held accountable. If he was unaware, and his people working in those respective areas were still conducting that business and not briefing him on that, then he was kept in the dark.

Public Accounts committee  I would hope they would, but with respect to Morneau Sobeco, if my memory serves me correctly, and from what I've heard with respect to that particular firm, there was already business being conducted with them, and therefore there was an implied contract. As a result, the decision was made to sole-source it to Morneau Sobeco, because of the implied contract already in place.

Public Accounts committee  You would have an insider's edge, because you'd know the organization, how it's structured, the true costs, the additional costs. As you know, when you go to the competitive process and people bid on it, a committee is struck, and we award points as to the credibility of the organization and their functionality.

Public Accounts committee  I'm not aware of who had the delegated authority at that time. It depends on to whom the commissioner delegates signing authority. So would the comptroller sign that off? It would depend on who had the delegated authority to sign it.

Public Accounts committee  If he had the authority to sign it off, he would have signed it off. On the normal process in any contract and procurement, as you know, we only have up to $25,000 for contract authority. Thereafter it goes through Public Works.

Public Accounts committee  I can't speak for him, but I can tell you that my previous experience there, with the internal control unit I put in place at the time, was to review such contracts—

Public Accounts committee  Not at all. We're supposed to set our own statement of work, statement of requirements, and request for proposals based on our internal experts, along with some others, to address.... We would not give anyone a competitive inside edge, because then it wouldn't be a fair and open contract.

Public Accounts committee  That is correct.

Public Accounts committee  It would have been either the chief financial officer or the senior full-time financial officer who was in charge of financial services, or the person in charge of assets and procurement for the RCMP. If they failed to brief Mr. Gauvin, he could have been kept in the dark. However, I would say that was a highly sensitive area at the time, with respect to the pension outsourcing.