Auditor General to Probe Main ArriveCan Contractor GC Strategies

Canada’s auditor general is opening an investigation into all government contracts related to GC Strategies, the company at the centre of the ArriveCan controversy.
“We are in the process of gathering information that will allow us to properly scope and plan the audit based on our mandate and available resources,” Hogan said in the letter. “We will inform the House of the timing of the audit once the scope has been determined and will submit our findings to Parliament as soon as possible.”
Hogan’s investigation comes in response to a request from the House government operations committee on Feb. 14, while a number of other parliamentary committees have also been scrutinizing the role of GC Strategies in the ArriveCan project.
The report said the Canada Border Services Agency’s documentation and financial records for the app were “so poor” that the precise cost of ArriveCan could not be determined, but estimates based on available information put the cost at $59.5 million.
In a press conference following the report’s release, Hogan said the public service “did not ensure that Canadians received the best value for money” in the app’s development and that “we paid too much.”
Canada’s comptroller general told the House public accounts committee in March that GC Strategies and its predecessor Coredal have been awarded 118 contracts totalling $107 million since 2011.
Firth has criticized some of Hogan’s findings during his appearances at committee and denied the allegations made against him and GC Strategies.