QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
November 29, 2023
Government leader, in addition to investigations by the RCMP and the Auditor General, Public Services and Procurement Canada is also conducting a review of three IT staffing firms involved in the ArriveCAN contract scandal. The Globe and Mail reported on November 10 that:
Since 2017, GCStrategies has received $59-million in federal funding. And over the past 10 years, Coradix and Dalian — which frequently work together — have received a combined $411-million.
Both GCStrategies and Dalian have said they each have just two employees. Coradix has more than 40 employees.
Leader, a significant amount of taxpayer dollars is involved here. If the Trudeau government has concerns about misconduct involving these companies, why are government departments still permitted to keep working with them?
Thank you for your question.
Misconduct in procurement is never acceptable. The Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, as colleagues know — I have said it in the chamber before — has suspended its contracts with GC Strategies, CORADIX and Dalian. The government is aware, as colleagues are as well, that there is an ongoing RCMP investigation. In order to protect the integrity of that investigation, I cannot provide further comments on behalf of the government.
I remind senators that the CBSA has conducted an internal audit and mandated new oversight in its contracting. The government fully expects the CBSA to act on the investigation’s findings.
To clarify, is your government committing to make public the review that Public Services and Procurement Canada is conducting into these three companies? Could you tell us when this review is expected to end?
To clarify, I do not believe that is what I undertook in my answer to the question, Senator Martin. My answer was that contracts have been suspended, the RCMP is investigating, the CBSA has launched an internal audit and mandated new reporting oversight, and the government expects the CBSA to follow through.
