Company that worked on ArriveCan app barred from government contracts for 7 years

Ottawa says it has banned the largest contractor that worked on the ArriveCan app from entering into contracts or real property agreements with the government for seven years.

Public Services and Procurement Canada has announced that GC Strategies Inc. has been deemed "ineligible" after an assessment of the supplier's conduct.

Last year, the department suspended the security status of GC Strategies, which the auditor general says was awarded more than $19 million for the project.

That move followed an earlier decision to suspend the company from procurement processes within the department. The government also barred two other companies that contributed to the ArriveCan project, Dalian Enterprises and Coradix Technology Consulting, from participating in procurement opportunities.

The federal government launched the app in April 2020 as a way to track health and contact information for people entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to digitize customs and immigration declarations.

A report by Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan found the government's record-keeping was poor and its reliance on outside contractors allowed the cost of the project to balloon to $60 million.

The first ArriveCan contract was initially valued at just $2.35 million.

On Tuesday, Hogan is set to deliver an audit focusing on whether the contracts awarded and the payments made to GC Strategies and other incorporated companies were "in accordance with applicable policy instruments" and were good value for money.

Public Services and Procurement Canada says the government continues to take action to "strengthen the integrity of the procurement process."

The Canadian Press has reached out to GC Strategies and to Public Services and Procurement Canada for comment.

GC Strategies partner Kristian Firth was ordered to appear before the bar of the House of Commons last year after refusing to answer questions at a committee hearing.

Firth was grilled by MPs for two hours, though Liberals opted out of questioning after a doctor's note provided to the clerk of the House recommended that he not appear because of mental-health issues.

GC Strategies did not develop or manage the ArriveCan app, but it was tasked by the federal government to assemble a team to complete some parts of the project.