Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of the people of Kitchener—Conestoga. I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Bourassa.

For any government, there is perhaps no more central responsibility than the duty to spend taxpayer dollars with transparency and a clear commitment to achieving value for money. Canadians work hard to earn a living, and part of those earnings comes to Parliament, where through debate, consultation and consensus, we decide how that money should be spent. It is a critical task, and one that no government should take lightly.

One of the many things that governments budget for is professional services. The decision to acquire professional services through contracting is made by departments based on requirements and deliverables needed to execute their mandates. This may include specialized skills and expertise, which are sought through procurements. Contracting for services has long been a regular part of how government operates, and professional services as a percentage of total government expenditures have not grown. This practice is typically followed to provide additional support to federal employees working on important projects and programs.

In the Auditor General's report, the most recent study of professional service contracts with GC Strategies Inc., the Auditor General of Canada highlighted gaps in documentation and other necessary controls. Her assessment, in general terms, is that while Canada's system for the procurement of professional services has ample and suitable guidelines in place, those rules only work when they are followed.

The government fully accepts the findings of the Auditor General in this report, and I thank her for doing that work, as it was done following prior audits on the same issues. I can report to the House that several measures have been put in place over the last 18 months to address the underlying causes that allowed this particular situation to occur, so I will talk about the action that we have already taken.

Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC as I will call it, is a department that oversees procurement in conjunction with client departments and agencies. PSPC has addressed the recommendations raised in audit reports in an effort to strengthen procurement. It has improved evaluation requirements to ensure that resources are appropriately qualified, and it has increased transparency requirements from suppliers around their pricing and their use of subcontractors.

It has improved documentation when awarding contracts and issuing task authorizations, and it has clarified work requirements and activities, including the requirement to specify which initiatives and projects are being worked on by contractors. It is increasing its use of solution-based procurement approaches rather than time- and task-based approaches. It is also streamlining, simplifying and digitizing existing mandatory procurement instruments, as well as requiring additional approvals for the use of mandatory procurement instruments.

Perhaps most importantly, PSPC is raising awareness of procurement risks and activities across federal departments and agencies. This is an issue that can affect any department, big or small, across Canada. It is vital that public servants involved in the procurement process are aware of their responsibilities and are all making informed decisions in accordance with the established rules.

As a control measure, PSPC plays an important challenge function in situations where a client department decides to pursue a non-competitive procurement process. In those situations, PSPC suggests alternative procurement approaches to client departments when it believes that non-competitive procurement is not the optimal option.

As such, in November 2023, following the re-evaluation of the improper contract negotiations with GC Strategies, PSPC wrote to the government departments and agencies to inform them that it would be replacing all master-level user arrangements with client departments, agencies and Crown corporations. These arrangements set out conditions for access to select professional services methods of supply maintained by PSPC.

As part of this process, PSPC and client departments have established new arrangements, which stipulate the use of new contract provisions to increase costing and subcontractor transparency. These new arrangements were circulated to the departments at the end of January, on January 31, 2024, and they are now in force.

The more recent measure, having just come into force this month, is the implementation of part 18 of the Budget Implementation Act, which gives the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement exclusive authority over federal procurement. It is not an end to delegation; on the contrary, departments and agencies will continue to exercise the authority to conduct their own procurements.

However, the Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement can now revoke a department's or agency's delegation if there is reason to believe the procurement rules are not being followed. More broadly, as circumstances dictate, the minister can mandate standard procurement processes across all federal departments and agencies.

To conclude, I would like to note that GC Strategies has been determined to be ineligible under PSPC's ineligibility and suspension policy. It will not see a dime of taxpayer monies for the next seven years. This company is responsible for what has happened, and we are pursuing GC Strategies in court. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore systemic issues inside government that permitted wrongdoing, however unintentional.

The Auditor General has made her recommendations on the necessary course of action, and PSPC has, over the past year and a half, taken many steps to strengthen the oversight on all professional services and contracts falling under PSPC's authority. This government will never tolerate misconduct from suppliers or their contractors. GC Strategies has been banned, its security clearance has been revoked, legal action has been taken, and we referred the case to the RCMP. We are also strengthening procurement oversight and accountability across departments.

I believe it is time. Canadians have sent us here to get work done. I look forward to questions and to working together.

Tim Louis

$534,348.00