Former CBSA VP Contradicts Director on Who Chose IT Company to Develop Multimillion-Dollar ArriveCAN

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

A former vice-president and chief information officer of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says he didn’t know GC Strategies would be the company hired to build ArriveCAN when he decided to outsource development of the controversial app. Minh Doan also denied threatening to blame a former director at the agency for the decision during a phone call.

The government spending on the app that Ottawa used to track the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers entering Canada is currently being investigated by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) and Canada’s auditor general.

The RCMP has also said it’s investigating allegations of misconduct raised by IT firm Botler AI in relation to government contracts given to GC Strategies, Coradix, and Dalian.

“I did not choose or direct the selection of GC Strategies. I chose a strategic direction that met our urgent needs for speed and agility at the time. Importantly, I also did not contact GC Strategies to solicit a proposal,” Mr. Doan, now the federal government’s chief technology officer, at the Treasury Board Secretariat, testified before the committee on Nov. 14.

“I ruled out the entirely outsourced approach. I stand behind that decision and I’m fully accountable for that decision.”

Mr. Doan’s testimony contradicted that of former CBSA director Cameron MacDonald, who said in his Nov. 7 testimony before the committee that Mr. Doan had been the one responsible for choosing GC Strategies.

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“Everyone knows it. We have our team here behind us. Everybody knew it was his decision to make. It wasn’t mine,” said Mr. MacDonald, who is now an assistant deputy minister at Health Canada.

For weeks, OGGO has been examining how the companies GC Strategies, Dalian, and Coradix received millions in taxpayer dollars to develop the ArriveCAN app. Critics say the app could have been developed for a fraction of its $54 million cost.

Amid the new revelations, the CBSA and Public Services and Procurement Canada recently announced they were temporarily suspending all contracts with the three companies, but the IT firms can continue working with other federal departments.

During the committee meetings, MPs have attempted to determine who at CBSA chose to outsource development of ArriveCAN to GC Strategies, which then subcontracted the work to six other companies, keeping a commission of between 15 and 30 percent.

When testifying on Oct. 24, Mr. Doan said he did not know who hired the company, but it was “part of the investigation that’s currently underway.”

During his opening statement on Nov. 14, Mr. Doan told MPs that at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was given “two broad technical approaches” to develop a software application to replace a paper form.

One option was “an entirely outsourced solution developed and hosted by [consulting firm] Deloitte,” The other was using “a combination of public servants and staff augmentation to leverage the existing code expertise and our cloud infrastructure.”

Mr. Doan said Mr. MacDonald and his team did a quick assessment “within 48 hours” and narrowed down the choices to those two options.

Because Mr. Doan was concerned about the fully outsourced option, since data would be stored on the outside firm’s IT infrastructure rather than on the CBSA’s own cloud server, he said he decided to go with the option of partially outsourcing the development.

“I wanted my team to retain the ability to direct the development and resources in making decisions,” Mr. Doan added.

Contradicting Testimony

Mr. Doan on Nov. 14 reiterated that he was given the choice of either going with Deloitte or with what was presented as an “Insource Option” that did not mention GC Strategies specifically.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said it was “weird” that the name of the company involved was not provided and asked Mr. Doan if he felt the same way at the time and if he asked why.

“These options were developed over 48 hours. There’s a very real possibility that at that time, things were moving so quickly nobody even knew what company would be required,” Mr. Doan replied.

According to Mr. MacDonald, while Deloitte was the preferred option to develop the ArriveCAN app, Mr. Doan had said the company was in the “penalty box” because an IT project it was working on was late and over budget.

When asked by Liberal MP Majid Jowhari about the exchange, Mr. Doan said that “I don’t recall using the term ‘penalty box.’ I don’t watch a lot of sports,” and reiterated that he decided not to go with Deloitte due to concern about sensitive data being on a third party’s cloud.

During his Nov. 7 testimony before the OGGO committee, Mr. MacDonald had also described a phone call he received from Mr. Doan on Oct. 28, 2022, during which Mr. Doan warned that he would blame him and former CBSA executive director Antonio Utano for choosing GC Strategies.

“He said, ‘You know Cam, if I have to, I’m going to tell the committee that it was you,’” Mr. MacDonald said of the phone call with Mr. Doan. “To which I said, ‘If you do that I will have to respond,’ and we ended the conversation.”

During his opening statement to the committee on Nov. 14, Mr. Doan said that since he was preparing to testify before OGGO and nobody knew who had chosen GC Strategies, he phoned Mr. Doan “who I trusted to answer this question.” Mr. Doan said the two “agreed it was not me” and that he remembered indicating to Mr. MacDonald that if pressed by the committee, he might have to redirect the question to Mr. MacDonald.

“I never said I would blame him, nor did I lay blame at his feet,” he told MPs. “I still don’t know who initially contacted GC Strategies to solicit a proposal.”

According to Mr. MacDonald in his Nov. 7 testimony, Mr. Doan had also been concerned that then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino was upset with the reports around the costs of ArriveCAN and “wanted someone’s head on a plate.”

Mr. Doan told the committee on Nov. 14 that “nobody was looking for a proverbial head” and that Mr. Mendicino was merely looking for an explanation for why the app cost $54 million, which the CBSA provided.

“I had no fear for my job this time last year. I stand behind the decision. I think it’s value for money. And I don’t think at any point in time I was afraid for my job,” Mr. Doan said.

“I don’t think a public servant doing their job, delivering on something like ArriveCAN, would be fired,” he added.