ArriveCan contracting appears ‘illogical’ and ‘inefficient,’ Trudeau says – National | 24CA News

The contracting course of used to construct the ArriveCan app appears “illogical” and “inefficient,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.

The Globe and Mail first reported on Monday that the Ottawa IT agency GCstrategies, which the federal government employed to construct the ArriveCan app for $44 million, really subcontracted the work to construct it to 6 different corporations together with worldwide corporations KPMG and BDO — which then employed the IT staff to really construct the applying.

During a press convention on Monday, Trudeau was requested why the federal government didn’t skip the center man and contract instantly with the businesses that employed the IT groups.

“That’s exactly the question that I just asked of the public service,” Trudeau replied.

“Obviously, this is a practice that seems highly illogical and inefficient.”

Trudeau mentioned he has “made sure” that the Clerk of the Privy Council is “looking into procurement practices” to “make sure that we’re getting value for money, and that we’re doing things in a smart and logical way.”

The contracts are specified by paperwork tabled by the House of Commons authorities operations and estimates committee, which Global News has reviewed.

The paperwork present that GCstrategies paid the opposite corporations to supply IT “resources,” with nearly all staff charging every day charges of greater than $1,200 — however many had a day fee of $1,500.

Speaking earlier than the committee in November, GCstrategies’ managing associate, Kristian Firth, mentioned they might have charged the federal government the trade commonplace, which he described as “anywhere from 15 per cent to 30 per cent.”

4:42Tech Talk: $54 million price ticket for ArriveCan App

Firth additionally confirmed that GCstrategies billed the federal government $9 million over the 2 years it was contracted to work on the applying.

An early estimate for the app’s preliminary improvement put the associated fee at simply $80,000 — however the complete price ticket has since soared to greater than $54 million.

The use of the ArriveCan app, which was launched early within the pandemic, grew to become obligatory at air and land borders in February 2021. The authorities introduced it will be dropping the requirement in September 2022.

The app offered a screening course of for incoming travellers through the COVID-19 pandemic, monitoring their vaccination standing. During the mandate, refusing to make use of the app to supply required info may have resulted in a advantageous of as much as $5,000 underneath the Quarantine Act.

But the ArriveCan app proved a controversial device fraught with technical setbacks.

A glitch within the app final 12 months despatched fully-vaccinated travellers inaccurate messages saying they wanted to quarantine. The glitch affected greater than 10,000 individuals, in accordance with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Global News discovered it took the federal government 12 days to inform travellers of the error.

The glitch prompted issues from each opposition politicians and privateness advocates. The app collected private knowledge, equivalent to names, phone numbers, tackle and vaccination standing, which was then used to assist public well being officers implement the federal government’s quarantine guidelines.

Concerns about how lengthy this info is saved, and the way in which knowledge is shared between completely different authorities companies had been raised by privateness and authorized specialists over the previous two years.

2:16Poilievre presses Liberals to clarify ArriveCAN app contract after tech CEO says he by no means labored on it

In June 2020, a gaggle of federal Conservatives additionally requested the privateness commissioner to analyze ArriveCan attributable to issues they’d in regards to the potential misuse of information.

The privateness commissioner responded two months later and mentioned that he reviewed the app’s privateness circumstances and that he didn’t have any issues on the time. However, the watchdog launched a brand new probe in late July following a contemporary grievance.

Despite all of the setbacks, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has defended the ArriveCan app.

“ArriveCan is a useful tool that helps verify the vaccination status of an individual before arriving at our borders,” he mentioned at a committee assembly final summer season.

— with information from The Canadian Press, Global News’ Brian Hill

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