Feds 2 Weeks Late on Releasing ArriveCan Invoices, Lists of Subcontractors

Private company ThinkOn was mistakenly attributed a contract due to 'coding' error, says CBSA

A smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app is seen in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini

MPs on a House of Commons committee said today they are still awaiting lists of subcontractors and invoices yet to be released by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to explain how the federal government spent $54 million on the ArriveCan app.

“There’s definitely questions on if this delay is a result of simply not knowing; more accounting errors; has there been direction given in hopes that a scandal for government goes away—or at worst, that there’s a coverup happening,” Conservative MP Michael Barrett told the House government operations and estimates committee on Nov. 14.

CBSA president Erin O'Gorman had earlier told the committee they were “looking at about 500 invoices,” and were in the process of translating them, adding that it will “take time.”

The committee requested on Oct. 17 that the government agency release the documents by Oct. 31, but is yet to receive comprehensive lists explaining in detail the costs associated with developing and maintaining the app, along with who was subcontracted to work on it.

“The committee did not suggest that the documents should come on October 31. There was a requirement that they be here,” said Conservative MP Michael Barrett.

“In terms of subcontractors, we don’t have that information,” said O'Gorman. “We just have information relating to those who held the contract directly with either CBSA or PSPC [Public Services and Procurement Canada].”

Barrett said he’s “a bit mystified” by CBSA’s delay in releasing “very straightforward information.”

“It does raise questions,” he said. “When it’s been 28 days since [the documents were requested], the government should know—CBSA should know—where the $54 million was spent on this app.”

A majority of MPs in the House on Nov. 2 voted in favour of the auditor general conducting an in-depth review of the federal government’s $54 million spending on the app.

The vote to audit came just two weeks after the House government operations and estimates committee voted against questioning federal ministers about ArriveCan’s cost.

‘Error in the Coding ’

CBSA told The Epoch Times in a previous email that it spent just $80,000 creating ArriveCan, but additional factors like maintenance and data protection brought total costs up to $54 million.

The Liberal government also introduced documents to the House last month outlining some of the contractors who worked on the app.

The documents stated that a Canadian tech firm called ThinkOn received a $1.2 million contract to work on the app, but the company’s CEO, Craig McLellan, said ThinkOn never received the contract nor payment for it.

“We have received no money from the CBSA,” he said, according to a Globe and Mail report published on Oct. 20.

O'Gorman said today that the mistake was due to an “error in the coding” by a CBSA employee.

“It was a transmittal error. ThinkOn did not receive a contract and was not paid for anything. It was an error in the coding and that’s how that came up,” she said.

Barrett asked O'Gorman when the committee can expect CBSA to release documents showing exactly who was paid to work on the app, as requested on Oct. 17.

“This month? Next month? Before the end of this year?” he asked.

“I don’t have an estimate. We can get back to you,” said O'Gorman.