Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) says it has
suspended the security status of GC Strategies, the company at the heart of the ArriveCan scandal.
The suspension bars GC Strategies from participating in all federal procurements with security requirements. The move follows PSPC’s November 2023 decision to suspend the company from participating in its procurement processes.
The suspensions are not permanent but will remain in place “until further notice,” said PSPC in a March 6 statement.
The department said it has a framework to “prevent, detect and respond to situations of potential wrongdoing and to safeguard the integrity, fairness, openness and transparency of the federal procurement system.”
The November suspension came after the Globe and Mail reported that the RCMP was investigating allegations of misconduct against three companies involved in developing the ArriveCan application: GC Strategies, Dalian Enterprises, and Coradix. The investigation also pertains to work on other projects.
Suspensions for Dalian and Coradix came later, with PSPC making the announcement this month.
PSPC has
suspended Dalian and
Coradix from continuing to work on or obtain new federal contracts. This came shortly after it was revealed that Dalian CEO David Yeo is an employee of the Department of National Defence (DND), and Dalian
had contracts with DND.
GC Strategies, Dalian Enterprises, and Coradix have not returned requests for comment.
The companies received some of the estimated $59.5 million to build the ArriveCan application. Auditor General Karen Hogan
provided the price tag to build ArriveCan in her audit released in February, but with the caveat that the available documentation around the app was “so poor” the precise cost is unknown.
“I will tell you that we paid too much for this application,” Ms. Hogan said Feb. 12. The initial projected cost to build ArriveCan was at one point reported to be $80,000.
The ArriveCan system initially
came online in April 2020 as a border measure to electronically manage quarantine requirements for incoming travellers. Quarantine requirements per vaccination status was later added.
The three suspended companies received multiple federal contracts in recent years. The Epoch Times previously
reported that GC Strategies obtained more than $96 million since 2015.
The Comptroller General of Canada, Roch Huppé, put the figure at $107.7 million on March 6 as he
testified before the House of Commons public accounts committee. The amount includes contracts since 2011 and those awarded to GC Strategies’ predecessor Coradel.
As for Dalian and Coradix, a Globe and Mail report said they have received $400 million in contracts over the last decade. The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify the figure.
Along with the public accounts committee conducting its study of the auditor general’s ArriveCan report this week, the House adopted a motion Feb. 28 asking the Liberals to disclose the full cost of the ArriveCan app by March 18.
MPs also recently
passed a motion that authorizes the arrest of ArriveCan contractors by the House sergeant-at-arms if they do not appear before committee to testify about the app. The order states that Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony, owners of GC Strategies, must appear before the government operations committee within 21 days of Feb. 26.
Aside from parliamentary probes, the RCMP
said in late February it has expanded its investigation into the misconduct allegations levelled against the companies behind ArriveCan, to include contracts related to the app’s development.
