(Ottawa) ArriveCAN, it’s what ?
It is a smartphone application launched by the federal government on April 29, 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Travelers had to indicate their vaccination status and contact details upon arrival in Canada, before quarantining. Its use is no longer compulsory since the lifting of health measures at the border on 1er October 2022, but it can still be used to make customs and immigration declarations at the country’s major airports.
What is the problem ?
Media and parliamentarians have long been interested in cost overruns for the development ofArriveCAN, but it was the Auditor General’s report of February 12 that revealed the extent of the scandal. Contracts awarded without a call for tenders, task authorization issued without any task or deliverable being specified…
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Auditor General of Canada, Karen Hogan
The app, whose first version cost $80,000, ended up costing taxpayers probably $59.5 million, according to Auditor General Karen Hogan’s estimate. She cannot say if this amount is accurate because of poor financial record keeping at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), “one of the worst” she has seen in her entire career.
Wait, are there other problems?
The uncovering of the financial fiasco ofArriveCAN revealed other incongruities in the awarding of federal contracts. First, the fact that Indigenous businesses would be used as a front so that other businesses that do not meet the criteria can obtain a share of the billion in contracts reserved for Indigenous people each year. Then, the phenomenon of double remuneration of certain civil servants who work at the same time as consultants for the government.
Who are the protagonists?
GC Strategies
The two partners of this firm, Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony, obtained 19.1 million in contracts for ArriveCAN, including three without calls for tenders, according to the Auditor General. This is the largest share of all contracts awarded by the CBSA for this project. The partners deny this figure; the sum would rather be around 11 million, according to them. The fact remains that they did not develop the application themselves, but rather recruited information technology workers for a commission varying between 15% and 30%. They admitted that it amounted to 2.5 million for ArriveCAN. And this is only a small part of the sums they have pocketed since 2015, the year they founded their firm. GC Strategies was awarded a total of 103 contracts with a total value of $100 million, according to data provided to The Press by the controller general. It’s “almost the equivalent of winning the taxpayers’ lottery,” denounced Conservative Larry Brock on Thursday. The company recently lost its security clearance from the federal government and is now barred from the public market.
Dalian
This company was founded in 2002 by David Yeo, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces. Dalian, which has two employees, received nearly 8 million in contracts for ArriveCAN, according to the Auditor General. The firm also acts as an intermediary by subcontracting federal government work to other IT consultants on a commission basis. The Press discovered that Mr Yeo had opened two companies in tax havens, raising a red flag. Since he is from the Alderville First Nation in Ontario, his company is eligible for a share of the Indigenous-only contracts. Dalian is also forming a joint venture with Coradix Technology Consulting, which thus obtains access to this public market. Upon checking his background, journalists and the Defense Ministry were surprised to learn that Mr. Yeo worked both for the government as a civil servant and as a consultant with Dalian. The company has since lost its security clearance and no longer has access to federal contracts.
Botler AI
The managers of this Montreal artificial intelligence firm had business ties with GC Strategies for a project prior to ArriveCAN. They alerted the CBSA in 2021 after observing questionable practices. This was before the scandal surrounding the app broke. They did not hesitate to speak of “systemic corruption” in the government apparatus in parliamentary committee. Their names were allegedly used without their knowledge to invoice for work they did not perform. GC Strategies also allegedly inflated their experience in their resumes submitted to the federal government, a practice that allows them to obtain a better rate. The RCMP opened an investigation following their allegations.
The two officials suspended
Cameron MacDonald and Antonio Utano were singled out by Botler AI for various wrongdoings. These two former CBSA employees were suspended without pay following allegations contained in an internal investigation report. They admitted to attending a whiskey tasting party hosted by GC Strategies after the project ArriveCAN, but denied having done anything wrong. They believe they are victims of reprisals and have accused senior CBSA management of lying in this matter in order to cover up its own incompetence. They also claim that thousands of emails were deleted “to hide the truth”.
How many investigations are there?
There are more than ten of them. The Privacy Commissioner has opened an investigation into ArriveCAN, the second, a few days ago. It will try to find out if the personal information of its users ended up in the hands of consultants without the required security clearance. The reviews by the Auditor General and the Procurement Ombudsman have already been completed, but others such as the investigations by the RCMP, the CBSA, two parliamentary committees and those launched by several ministries are still ongoing.