Government Operations committee  Right now, because it is a Treasury Board policy, our policies apply to organizations in schedule I, I.1 and II of the FAA. Crown corporations don't form part of that, but what we are looking at is where they don't, how do they follow the spirit and intent of what we want to achieve through this policy?

Government Operations committee  Within Treasury Board Secretariat, there is a greening government secretariat that's about greening federal operations. The transfer from the NRC to Treasury Board is for two full-time persons who will support the development and implementation of green procurement standards and support guidance on low embodied carbon materials like carbon and steel that we use during the construction of our buildings, etc.

Government Operations committee  I'll start, and then I'll pass it to Paul. For clarity, that policy is a policy of ISED. It is not a Treasury Board policy. That's important context. Paul, I'll turn to you to speak about the efforts of OCIO.

Government Operations committee  I'll take that question. In terms of sole-sourcing, it's very clearly defined in the government contracts regulations, section 6, the circumstances under which you can sole-source. They would be low value, an emergency, national security and then if there's only one provider. There is broader guidance that we provide on our directive to the community.

Government Operations committee  Just generally, going back maybe to your specific example, departments, deputy heads, are ultimately accountable for how they undertake their resources and how they decide to procure. If it's of a certain level, it will come into Treasury Board for oversight in the specific case.

Government Operations committee  PSPC would have had a supply arrangement. As I understand, PSPC are here later this week, so you may want to put the question to them at that time. My understanding is that that was a supply arrangement they had in place, and that CBSA leveraged that supply arrangement.

Government Operations committee  PSPC is responsible for the management of office space, so I know that they're actively working with each of the departments to understand what their hybrid plans will be so they can have a portfolio approach to what they will keep and what they may dispose of. That would be a question that PSPC would need to answer, as they're the general manager for office space.

Government Operations committee  The indigenous 5%, as the minister indicated, is being implemented over a three-year time frame. We're in the first year of implementation, so we'll have the results after the end of this fiscal year. We have been working with PSPC and ISC to do a number of things to support our procurement officers in undertaking those procurements, including new mandatory training and outreach.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I would like to point out that we have published a new guide on the official languages in contracting. Each contract has its own conditions. Ultimately, the government must live up to its obligations. If we require documents in English, it might be because we want to translate them if they are technical documents and we have more experience in that field.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I can talk generally about what we've been doing on greening government in the operations. There are some key highlights I would mention. First of all, we've been making efforts to green our fleet. All executive vehicles are to be green or hybrid. We're now at 95%.

Government Operations committee  In terms of the Government of Canada's fleet, as I said, there are the executive vehicles and then there are our conventional light-duty vehicles. On the executive side, it's either net-zero or hybrid. As I said, 95% are. I see the list of those and can tell you that there are Pacificas on that list.

Government Operations committee  I'll give you a general answer. I don't have all the specifics, but the infrastructure goes hand in glove with it, so we are working with departments on how to implement the infrastructure. I don't have any more specific details.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Samantha Tattersall. I am the assistant comptroller general for the acquired services and assets sector within the Office of the Comptroller General at Treasury Board Secretariat. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to be here today with my colleagues.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. I may defer to my PSPC colleague, as the project sponsor.

National Defence committee  I'll say a couple of things. First of all, Treasury Board policy is principle-based now. We moved from a very prescriptive policy—it was something like 80 pages long—to a very short principle-based policy to give more flexibility. If you ask my colleagues whether Treasury Board policy is the big inhibitor, I would hope they say that it's not the biggest inhibitor.