The Canadian government said ArriveCan supplier GC Strategies landed millions in sole-sourced contracts with no record it ever complied with procurement rules, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “The reason business came about was that we continually had meetings and identified opportunities,” said GC Strategies Partner Kristian Firth at a House of Commons Government Operations Committee (CGOC) hearing. “It’s about getting ahead of it, getting partnerships with people.”Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON) asked if Firth used his relationships to get work from the Canadian government. “My relationships come from meetings I’ve had since 2009 with multiple clients,” said Firth. “We would go through a competitive process to win business like every other one of the 600 or 700 vendors that go through the same thing.”However, Procurement Ombudsperson Alexander Jeglic said in a report GC Strategies appeared to win millions in Canadian government contracts without bidding or complying with existing rules. Jeglic cited numerous examples of these infractions. In 2020, GC Strategies received a $13.9 million contract, but it did not meet minimum security requirements. Jeglic said there was no explanation “why the contract was issued to a supplier that did not meet the security requirement.”In 2020, it was awarded an $11.1 million contract, but there was no written record of a request or non-competitive solicitation being sent to it. “The only record of communication between the Crown and the supplier prior to signing of the contract was an email,” he said. In 2022, it was awarded a $25.3 million contract under restrictive conditions favouring GC Strategies over 40 competitors. “It would have been highly improbable that any other suppliers could have met all mandatory criteria,” he said. With GC Strategies, Firth said it was an information technology staffing company operating from a private home. He could not recall how many millions it profited from federal contracts. Barrett acknowledged the CGOC has “heard testimony at this committee that you leveraged relationships with key people in the government in order to guarantee business.”“That’s not what happened,” said Firth. Auditor General Karen Hogan said on Thursday it will disclose confidential details of a special audit of ArriveCan on Feb. 12. READ MORE: Commons committee orders ArriveCan audit by Feb. 12“When we identify issues that could raise the potential of criminality, we do identify it for the RCMP,” said Deputy Auditor General Andrew Hayes. Auditors would not comment when asked if they had uncovered evidence of criminality. Hayes noted the RCMP was investigating Canadian government contractors who worked on ArriveCan.
The Canadian government said ArriveCan supplier GC Strategies landed millions in sole-sourced contracts with no record it ever complied with procurement rules, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “The reason business came about was that we continually had meetings and identified opportunities,” said GC Strategies Partner Kristian Firth at a House of Commons Government Operations Committee (CGOC) hearing. “It’s about getting ahead of it, getting partnerships with people.”Conservative MP Michael Barrett (Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON) asked if Firth used his relationships to get work from the Canadian government. “My relationships come from meetings I’ve had since 2009 with multiple clients,” said Firth. “We would go through a competitive process to win business like every other one of the 600 or 700 vendors that go through the same thing.”However, Procurement Ombudsperson Alexander Jeglic said in a report GC Strategies appeared to win millions in Canadian government contracts without bidding or complying with existing rules. Jeglic cited numerous examples of these infractions. In 2020, GC Strategies received a $13.9 million contract, but it did not meet minimum security requirements. Jeglic said there was no explanation “why the contract was issued to a supplier that did not meet the security requirement.”In 2020, it was awarded an $11.1 million contract, but there was no written record of a request or non-competitive solicitation being sent to it. “The only record of communication between the Crown and the supplier prior to signing of the contract was an email,” he said. In 2022, it was awarded a $25.3 million contract under restrictive conditions favouring GC Strategies over 40 competitors. “It would have been highly improbable that any other suppliers could have met all mandatory criteria,” he said. With GC Strategies, Firth said it was an information technology staffing company operating from a private home. He could not recall how many millions it profited from federal contracts. Barrett acknowledged the CGOC has “heard testimony at this committee that you leveraged relationships with key people in the government in order to guarantee business.”“That’s not what happened,” said Firth. Auditor General Karen Hogan said on Thursday it will disclose confidential details of a special audit of ArriveCan on Feb. 12. READ MORE: Commons committee orders ArriveCan audit by Feb. 12“When we identify issues that could raise the potential of criminality, we do identify it for the RCMP,” said Deputy Auditor General Andrew Hayes. Auditors would not comment when asked if they had uncovered evidence of criminality. Hayes noted the RCMP was investigating Canadian government contractors who worked on ArriveCan.
