Procurement awards reviewed after ArriveCan team named ‘unsung heroes’

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OTTAWA — An organization that promotes procurement best practices within the federal public service says it is reviewing its reward process after giving an “unsung heroes” award in 2021 to the procurement team behind the ArriveCan app.

In the fall of 2021, the Canadian Institute for Procurement and Material Management (CIPMM) published a whimsical one-page graphic announcing the recipients of its annual procurement awards.

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Well into the COVID-19 pandemic that had thrown much of the procurement (and the rest) of the world upside down, CIPMM also included a new award category: the “2021 special award: Unsung Heroes.”

The award was meant to highlight teams and individuals who had found “innovative and effective” procurement and material management solutions during the pandemic. Seventeen government teams shared the new award as well as five individuals.

Among those teams is one standout: the Canada Border Services Agency procurement team behind the ArriveCan application.

Just over two years later, CBSA’s ArriveCan procurement team’s work would once again be highlighted, this time in a scathing report by federal Auditor General Karen Hogan.

“The Canada Border Services Agency’s documentation, financial records, and controls were so poor that we were unable to determine the precise cost of the ArriveCAN application,” reads Hogan’s report on the ArriveCan procurement process published this winter.

“The Canada Border Services Agency’s disregard for policies, controls, and transparency in the contracting process restricted opportunities for competition and undermined value for money… We also found deficiencies in how the Canada Border Services Agency managed the contracts, again raising concerns about value for money.”

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In light of Hogan’s scathing report on the ArriveCan app, which determined the cost ballooned from $80,000 to approximately $59.5 million, CIPMM president Carolyne Montague says the non-profit, volunteer-run organization is reviewing how it grants some of its annual rewards.

“We do not currently have a process in place to retract awards. However, I will be asking the Awards Committee to examine if we could introduce a way of validating the information provided in the nomination papers,” Montague wrote in an email to National Post.

CIPMM’s mission is to “advance and promote professionalism and effectiveness” of the federal public service’s procurement practices by organization webinars, events and workshops largely aimed at bureaucrats and government contractors.

Montague said the institute is not an extension of the public service, though all but one of its 15 board and executive committee voting members (Montague) are government executives.

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Montague said the 2021 “Unsung Heroes” award was awarded to all the teams put forward by their respective government departments after a call-out by the CIPMM.

“Given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and its impact on the work and work environment of the procurement and materiel management officers, the (Awards) Committee found it difficult to select a single recipient for the Team and for the Individual awards. Their recommendation to award everyone who was nominated was accepted by the Board of Directors,” she wrote.

In an interview, Conservative MP Michael Barrett said the ArriveCan application is an example of how not to do government procurement.

“It is proving to be a cautionary tale for everyone who gets involved with (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s) government because there’s corruption at every turn,” he said in an interview. “We’re now seeing this with his $60 million ArriveScam.”

He noted that the federal government is paying tens of billions of dollars to consultants every year all the while growing the size of the public service during the pandemic.

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“Canadians are not getting value for money, and that’s the case with ArriveCan,” he said.

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