MPs trying to untangle the “spider web of consultants,” contractors, and subcontractors as they probe into the $54-million ArriveCan app are questioning whether the government has been ”just paying people for spinning wheels.”

Members of the House Government Operations and Estimates Committee (OGGO) interrupted their winter recess to dig further into the Liberal government’s controversial procurement of the ArriveCAN application at a pair of meetings on Jan. 17 and 18. The committee has been studying the issue since October 2022.

ArriveCan was developed during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and its use was mandatory until the fall of 2022 for all passengers crossing the Canadian border to submit their proof of vaccination. The app is still in use as an optional customs tool for travellers.

As more witnesses testified about their role in the app’s development and allegations of misconduct, lawmakers shared their frustration about not getting the answers to pin down who was responsible for contracting out the work that cost millions of dollars within the complex procurement process.

“We have a bizarre procurement decision around ArriveCan. We have a procurement system that is broken overall, that’s leading to a proliferation of consultants hiring consultants, hiring consultants who have never done better than they are doing right now,” said Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park–Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.).

“What I’m most struck by is the cover up that we are seeing in the context of these hearings. It should be fairly easy for both public servants and consultants to appear before this committee, and simply tell us the truth,” said Genuis on Jan. 17.

“Certainly, I think the perception in the government and when we talk to you, there’s this big spider web of consultants,” said Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay–Rainy River, Ont.). “This is … consultants on consultants. Consultants, consulting to consultants … And it’s all about … a big misuse of government money. … Are we just paying people for spinning wheels?”

Kristian Firth, the managing partner of the two-person IT staffing company GC Strategies Inc. at the centre of allegations of contracting misconduct, confirmed the company received a $9-million sole-supplier contract to work on ArriveCan when he testified at the study’s opening meeting on Oct. 20, 2022. Firth told the MPs that his firm hired independent contractors for the development and maintenance of the ArriveCan app to deliver on its commitments to the government.

“To be clear, we did not build ArriveCan. We were approached to provide a team for consideration to fulfill certain ArriveCan requirements,” Firth said.

A January 2023 Globe and Mail story revealed that Firth’s Ontario-based company subcontracted its work on the ArriveCan app to six other companies including: BDO Canada LLP; Optiv Security Inc./Optiv Canada Inc.; KPMG LLP; Macadamian Technologies Inc.; Level Access, and Distill Mobile Inc.

The committee has also been studying the allegations of contracting misconduct raised by Botler AI, a Montreal software company. Botler AI was not involved in the ArriveCan app’s development, but the two founders of the company had worked on other projects with Firth.

As reported by The Globe and Mail, Botler AI’s co-founders Ritika Dutt and Amir Morv brought forward allegations of contracting misconduct to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in November 2022.

Ottawa-based business consultant Vaughn Brennan, who testified before the committee about his involvement in the ArriveCan app on Jan. 17, said he never worked on the ArriveCan app, and that he had a “purely professional” relationship with Firth.

MPs pushed Brennan to respond to October 2023 reporting by The Globe that he gave business colleagues the impression he had senior-level connections within the Liberal government in his dealings with Firth and Botler.

“What connections do you have to current Liberal ministers and their staff?” Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore, Alta.) asked Brennan.

“Absolutely none,” he replied.

CBSA president Erin O’Gorman and former CBSA president John Ossowski testified at OGGO’s Jan. 18 meeting. O’Gorman confirmed that an internal investigation at the CBSA is underway and that allegations by Botler were passed on to the RCMP.

The auditor general has also been investigating the ArriveCAN app contract since November 2022. This investigation is also looking into Botler AI’s allegations of procurement misconduct.

ikoca@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

 

Irem Koca is a Turkish-Canadian journalist who joined The Hill Times in late 2023. She got her start in Canadian media in the Toronto Star's Ottawa bureau, covering federal politics and national stories under the paper's year-long fellowship. With a background in broadcast journalism, she spent several years as a world news reporter at CNN Turkey. Her freelance work on Turkish politics has been featured in The New York Times and Reuters. She is fluent in English and Turkish. See all stories BY IREM KOCA