Auditor general Karen Hogan estimated that the Canada Border Services Agency spent $59.5 million on the app
OTTAWA – In a damning report released Monday, Canada’s auditor general found government departments kept weak records and had poor financial controls over the ArriveCan app, allowing costs to spiral and leaving even auditors unsure how much developing the app had cost taxpayers.
Auditor General Karen Hogan estimated that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) spent $59.5 million on the border customs app, but said she can’t be sure.
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“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. Using the information that was available, we estimated the cost at approximately $59.5 million,” she said in her report.
Speaking at a House of Commons committee Monday, Hogan said she was “deeply concerned” by what the audit didn’t find, such as records to accurately show how the funds were spent on what, who did the work and how or why contracting decisions were made.
“That paper trail should have existed,” she told MPs. “Overall, this audit shows a glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices.”
ArriveCan was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic after Canada had imposed vaccine and quarantine rules for travellers entering Canada. It was meant to allow travellers to share information about their vaccination status as they crossed into Canada, speeding up border controls. Hogan found 18 per cent of the invoices connected to the project couldn’t be confirmed to be related to it.
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Ultimately, the Auditor General’s Office came to the conclusion that the federal government paid “too much” for this application and that the public service should have exercised due diligence for public funds even if it was trying to act quickly during a public health emergency.
Hogan’s report adds to one from the government’s procurement ombudsman, which found similar major problems with the contract. The CBSA is doing its own internal investigation and has already referred some issues relating to employees and contractors to the RCMP.
“An emergency was not an excuse to throw out the window the basic rules that the public service normally follows. I would expect better from the public service, and I have seen the public service do better,” said Hogan.
In addition to the sloppy financial controls, Hogan found the app was not tested properly, as 177 different versions of the app were rolled out between April 2020 and October 2022. Among those were 25 major updates and nearly half of those were released without any testing.
“We found little documentation showing that the Canada Border Services Agency completed testing prior to releasing new versions of ArriveCAN,” she said.
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The lack of tests led to one version of the app, released in late June 2022, wrongly sending more than 10,000 people into a 14-day quarantine.
Hogan said so much of the standard procedures a government should follow were not being followed in this case, that she can’t say with certainty what ministers were told about the project and the costs that kept rising.
“It is difficult for me to tell you whether or not ministers were made aware, because there is nothing kept on file and we would have expected that the public service would document all of that,” she said.
Hogan said she has looked at many other pandemic contracts, where public servants had to move quickly, but those contracts still managed to follow basic procedures.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work around pandemic spending and contracting and while we’ve seen opportunities for improvement, things that could have been done better, nothing as glaring as what we’re seeing here,” she said.
Hogan said she found that non-competitive contracts were extended over and over without any competitive bidding process. She found that GC Strategies was awarded the first contract to develop ArriveCan despite not having put in a proposal. MPs studying the issue at committee have heard that GC Strategies subsequently subcontracted out all the development of the app to other firms.
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“The Canada Border Services Agency informed us that GC Strategies was awarded the contract on the basis of a proposal that it submitted,” she wrote. “We found that the agency received a proposal from one of the three potential contractors, but this proposal was not from GC Strategies. There was no evidence that the agency considered a proposal or any similar document from GC Strategies for this non-competitive contract.”
Hogan found three contractors — GC Strategies, 49 Solutions, and KPMG — were given $4.5 million through non-competitive contracts related to ArriveCan that were extended over and over again.
“Multiple amendments were made to those non-competitive professional services contracts. Approximately half of the contract amendments extended the contract beyond the original period, which prevented or delayed opportunities for other contractors to compete for work. These amendments also resulted in additional costs,” she wrote.
Hogan also said she was concerned by evidence showing that GC Strategies was involved in the development of very specific and narrow requirements that were used when CBSA moved to a competitive process to award millions more in contracts to GC Strategies, the only bidder.
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“This gave GC Strategies an advantage that other potential bidders did not have,” she said.
Hogan said that while it was reasonable in her view to seek external resources at the start of the pandemic outside of the public service to deliver services, she would have expected that there would be a transition to internal resources to operate the application as time went on, but it did not happen.
Hogan also found that people involved in deciding who was awarded the contract were treated to dinners and other gifts that they did not disclose.
“We found situations where agency employees who were involved in the ArriveCAN project were invited by vendors to dinners and other activities,” she said. “The agency’s Code of Conduct requires employees to advise their supervisors of all offers of gifts or hospitality regardless of whether the offer or gift was accepted. We found no evidence that these employees informed their supervisors as required.”
Among Hogan’s recommendations in her report are greater oversight for third-party contracts and improving transparency in communications between governments and vendors. Current Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the government will be implementing all of Hogan’s recommendations.
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“We absolutely share her view …that this content contracting practice was unacceptable,” he said. “Under no circumstance would we pretend that because the whole world was facing this global pandemic, that the contracting rules that need to be robust to handle taxpayers money can somehow be disregarded.”
LeBlanc said he has complete confidence in the current head of the CBSA Erin O’Gorman to resolve the issue.
“She is taking all of the appropriate steps to hold anybody to account in the case of alleged wrongdoing, but also to ensure that this kind of circumstance can never be allowed to happen again,” LeBlanc said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the RCMP should investigate whether criminal activity occurred in the contracting arrangements.
Certain employees and contractors have had their cases referred to the RCMP by CBSA, which has launched an investigation into the mismanagement of the ArriveCan app.
“We want the truth to come out and we want the police’s findings to be complete and public, so that Canadians know about all the corruption and mismanagement in the Trudeau government,” he told reporters.
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Poilievre also pledged to cut back on outside consultants if he forms government and save money by letting the public servants do the work at a cheaper cost.
NDP MP Blake Desjarlais said the ArriveCan debacle is the result of “decades of underfunding” to the public service which has left it needing to subcontract some of the work to private companies.
“It puts them in a position where they can very clearly overcharge Canadians,” said Desjarlais.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has found that the size of the federal public service expanded by 15 per cent from 2015 to 2021, while spending on federal workers rose from $39.6 billion to $60.7 billion over the same period.
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Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
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AP NFL:
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
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