Question Period Note: ArriveCAN App

• The Government of Canada is committed to protecting Canada’s borders and to helping travellers remain safe, which is paramount in the context of the global pandemic.

• As of October 1st, 2022, the previous public health measures at the border have been lifted, and so submitting health information via ArriveCAN is no longer mandatory.

• ArriveCAN continues to be available to travellers to use on an optional basis to help speed up the border process by submitting their customs and immigration declaration, in advance of arrival, to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

If pressed:
• An analysis of the costs associated with ArriveCAN is posted on the CBSA website.

• The CBSA used several professional services contracts for the development and maintenance of ArriveCAN, based on their expertise, and contractors were compensated within the terms of their contract.

• All payments related to ArriveCAN were made in line with the Government of Canada’s policies and directives on financial management and the maintenance of the internal controls framework.

• In the original list of contracts provided by CBSA, unfortunately Think On Inc. was incorrectly reported as having received payment. This was identified by CBSA financial controls before payment, and CBSA has verified that all contractors were paid for the work performed.

• The amounts attributed to Think On Inc. were paid to Microsoft who performed work under two separate contracts in support of ArriveCAN.

• A review of the full list of contracts has been completed. The work required to disclose and translate the associated invoices is ongoing to ensure Parliament and Canadians are provided accurate information.

Several professional services contracts were leveraged to develop and maintain ArriveCAN, based on the specific domain of expertise of the contractors. These contractors may also be used for several other projects being led by the CBSA, and so large procurement vehicles managed by Public Services and Procurement Canada or Shared Services Canada are leveraged for efficiency purposes.

CBSA provided information on ArriveCAN contracts and unfortunately one vendor was incorrectly reported as Think On Inc. The single digit coding error was identified and determined that the contract in question was with Microsoft Canada. This was identified by our financial controls before payment and as such the CBSA has verified that all contractors were paid for the work performed.
The CBSA can confirm that all contracts and payments were made in accordance with Government of Canada’s policies and directives.

Unfortunately in this case Think On Inc. was not removed from the database used to report on contracts under ArriveCan. CBSA has provided the Committee with an amended list of contracts, as well as a list of invoices by contract, including amounts for each invoice. The CBSA has identified approximately 500 invoices related to these contracts and is in the process of getting these documents translated for submission to the Committee.

ArriveCAN has had consistently high ratings in the mobile app stores and as of September 2022 has been downloaded more than 18 million times. ArriveCAN has also been built with accessibility needs in mind.

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