MPs vote to extend ArriveCan study and call witnesses on outsourced IT contracts

Open this photo in gallery:

Members of Parliament voted unanimously Tuesday to call private contractors, senior government officials and the RCMP to answer questions after the national police force said it is investigating contracting complaints raised by a company called Botler.

The government operations committee’s decision is in direct response to a Globe and Mail report that the RCMP is investigating after the Canada Border Services Agency received detailed warnings of alleged misconduct involving three private contractors: GCStrategies, Dalian Enterprises and Coradix.

The allegations were brought to the CBSA’s attention by Ritika Dutt and Amir Morv, the co-founders of Botler, who performed work for the agency focused on supporting victims of sexual harassment.

Botler raised concerns with the CBSA related to cozy ties between government officials and private consultants. They said they were directed to work with GCStrategies, rather than through a direct contract with the CBSA, by the agency’s then-director-general Cameron MacDonald.

After a pilot project was approved, they said, they were shocked to discover that the main contract was with Dalian – a company they had never heard of – and subcontracted to GCStrategies, with each company proposing to collect substantial commissions. They later learned that Coradix was submitting invoicing-related reports to the CBSA that used their personal information without permission and exaggerated their work experience.

The Botler pilot project and ArriveCan involve the same three technology companies, and the two projects were overseen by some of the same senior public servants. They also both share layers of subcontracting that keep key details – such as what the work involved and who received payments – from being disclosed to the public.

The Botler project was funded from a larger $21.2-million contract for general services that was also used by the CBSA to fund outsourcing work related to the ArriveCan app.

“Now we have allegations of identity theft, forged résumés, contractual theft, fraudulent billing, price fixing and collusion, all with senior bureaucrats and three contractors,” said Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie, who moved the motion.

Liberal, Bloc Québécois and NDP MPs on the committee all gave their support Tuesday to Ms. Kusie’s motion, which calls for four public meetings to hear from a list of people who were identified in the Globe report.

The list includes Ms. Dutt and Mr. Morv of Botler; GCStrategies managing partner Kristian Firth; Dalian director David Yeo; Anthony Carmanico, who is a director of both Dalian and Coradix; several current and former senior CBSA officials; and three cabinet ministers: Treasury Board President Anita Anand, Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

The motion also calls on the RCMP to brief the committee. The government operations committee had been about to wrap up its study of the ArriveCan app, but will now hold off writing a report until after these additional hearings.

“I know everyone on this committee is a dedicated and honourable parliamentarian who wants to get the truth for Canadians,” Ms. Kusie said in presenting her motion.

Liberal MP Majid Jowhari told the committee that while his party supports the motion, he questions whether many witnesses will simply say they can’t comment because of the police investigation.

“I’m not sure at this point, if we move this to a priority for the committee, what we are going to get out of it if that’s the line that’s going to be used,” he said.

Federal Auditor-General Karen Hogan told MPs last week that she is expanding her investigation into spending on the ArriveCan app in light of the new allegations reported by The Globe.

She also said she is disappointed top government officials had not told her team about a related investigation by the RCMP.

The House of Commons voted 174 to 149 last fall in favour of a motion calling on the Auditor-General to audit spending on the ArriveCan app, after The Globe reported that the price tag to build and maintain the app was on pace to exceed $54-million. The vote was approved over the objections of Liberal and Green Party MPs.

As a result of the Globe report, Ms. Hogan said, her office will be re-interviewing government officials, and seeking interviews with new witnesses.

Editor’s note: The headline and first sentence of this article have been updated to more clearly reflect the facts of the story.