Company linked to ArriveCan controversy got $107 million in federal contracts, official says

The company at the centre of the ArriveCan controver‐ sy has received more than $100 million in federal gov‐ ernment contracts since 2011, says Canada's comp‐ troller general.

Roch Huppé told the House public accounts com‐ mittee Wednesday morning that GC Strategies and its predecessor Coredal have been awarded 118 contracts totalling $107 million.

Media reports citing the federal government procure‐ ment database have sug‐ gested that GC Strategies alone received more than $200 million in government contracts.

A Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson told CBC News that contract en‐ tries in the database some‐ times overlap - when changes are made to an ex‐ isting contract already listed, for example.

Huppé told MPs that he has urged government de‐ partments to ensure the in‐ formation in the procure‐ ment database is "complete and accurate."

"Providing accurate and open information about our contracts is essential to safe‐ guarding the trust that Cana‐ dians put in their institu‐ tions," he said.

GC Strategies has faced heightened scrutiny ever since Auditor General Karen Hogan cited excessive re‐ liance on contractors as a major factor contributing to ArriveCan's ballooning costs.

Hogan's report, released last month, estimates the project cost roughly $59.5 million. She also noted that the total cost is "impossible to determine" due to poor fi‐ nancial record-keeping.

The auditor general esti‐ mates that GC Strategies re‐ ceived $19.1 million for the project. But that estimate on‐ ly includes money paid to the company up to March of last year.

The federal government launched ArriveCan in April 2020 to track health and con‐ tact information for people entering Canada during the pandemic, and to digitize customs and immigration de‐ clarations.

On Wednesday, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) announced that it had suspended GC Strategies' security status, ef‐ fectively banning the com‐ pany from bidding on new contracts with security re‐ quirements.

The government sus‐ pended all contracts with GC Strategies in November.

Comptroller asking for contract totals for other companies

Huppé said he has asked all government departments for a detailed list of contracts for two other companies tied to the ArriveCan controversy Dalian

Enterprise and Coradix - but has yet to re‐ ceive the information.

Last week, CTV reported that Dalian's president and founder, David Yeo, is also an employee of the Department of National Defence (DND).

A CBC News analysis of documents tabled in the House of Commons shows the company has received more than $200 million in government contracts since 2015 - though the govern‐ ment database suggests it has won contracts as far back as 2004.

The government an‐ nounced that it had sus‐ pended Yeo and its contracts with Dalian last week.

Dalian was the secondlargest recipient of public funds for the ArriveCan project, according to the au‐ ditor general. Hogan esti‐ mated that the company re‐ ceived just under $8 million.

PCPS announced Wednes‐ day that it had suspended the contracts with Coradix, a separate IT firm that often works with Dalian on federal projects.

Yeo told the House gov‐ ernment operations commit‐ tee in October that Dalian and Coradix operate as a "joint venture under the pro‐ curement strategy for Indige‐ nous business."

The government has pushed to ensure that a min‐ imum of 5 per cent of federal contracts are awarded to In‐ digenous businesses.

Yeo said that he is the great-grandson of Chief Robert Franklin of the Alderville First Nation in On‐ tario. A spokesperson for

Alderville First Nation con‐ firmed Yeo's connection to the community.

But another IT firm, Botler AI, raised concerns about Dalian's contracting processes during a separate October committee hearing.

Botler's chief executive, Ritika Dutt, claimed Dalian is used by other companies who want government busi‐ ness because they can "go af‐ ter Aboriginal contracts" by bidding with Yeo's firm as a joint operation.

Yeo denied Dutt's claims, telling MPs that they "don't ring true."

But the allegations prompted the government to announce a review of its policy on contracting with In‐ digenous companies.