Government Operations committee  Yes. I'd just like to say that the GENS initiative is really an attempt for us, as we've mentioned in the past, to renew our contracting vehicles and to do it in the most cost-effective way for departments and citizens. I might add that we have also been somewhat puzzled by the c

Government Operations committee  I don't hear a question in that particular remark; however, I'd be happy to comment--

Government Operations committee  I would like to reinforce the fact that we have in fact consulted broadly with the IT community within government on this particular initiative, and we have specific players interested in it initially, and others who would like to partake of it later on.

Government Operations committee  That would be a technical detail, and I'd perhaps like to get back to you in writing. I do know that it's certainly more than three, because they have different.... It's not the network itself, Madam Chair, but more the number of contracts that are in place and necessary to suppo

Government Operations committee  A number of vehicles are in place already and are obviously being used. Each of them has a specific lifetime. As we've seen with this particular initiative, it has taken us four years to get to this stage, so we begin to plan early for these things. There are certainly more than

Government Operations committee  The intent has always been for us to put in place a vehicle for organizations that are needing it as soon as possible. That's the nature of--

Government Operations committee  We anticipate that with the provision of a contract, which we've been talking about in terms of GENS, with the value added that it can provide to departments, other departments will want to use this vehicle. It's something that we've done in the past, for example, with our wirele

Government Operations committee  In responding to the question, Madam Chair, I would indicate that--again I repeat--we spent about $1.2 million in this process to put in place the SOIQ for the GENS initiative. It has been targeted to the Department of HRSDC and CIC, with Public Works as a possible backup to it,

Government Operations committee  Public Works would if it was in place, but it's not something we need to go to immediately. The other two departments are at the end of life for their current contracts. We need to renew the contracts available to them, and GENS is seen as the next generation for those networks.

Government Operations committee  Certainly. Thank you for the question. Having myself been part of the line department, HRSD, I would add that the initial genesis for looking at this converged technology that we call GENS occurred because the service providers are providing it to us in converged form. In fact,

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question. The procurement process that we are following is one that is well entrenched and one that is used for the procurement of any service that's provided to the federal government. The services offered through this vehicle are optional, and, as we say, t

Government Operations committee  May I clarify? Is it concerning a request for the solicitation of interest?

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, the solicitation was open to all sizes of organization, and therefore it is difficult for us to give you a response concerning what percentage of those small and medium-sized enterprises may have expressed an interest.

Government Operations committee  We could undertake to review that question and get back to you.

Government Operations committee  Let me clarify, Madam Chair. Are you referring to the GENS solicitation that we are applying to put on the street in the next two months?