Subhead:GC Strategies, the main contractor for ArriveCan, administered none of the IT work on the pandemic application.#
GC Strategies, the main contractor for ArriveCan, received a seven year ban on all government contracts Friday owing to past conduct. The IT firm, which administered none of the IT work itself, was awarded more than $19 million for the pandemic application.
Public Services and Procurement Canada deemed the supplier “ineligible” after evaluating their conduct, and had already excluded two other ArriveCan contributors, Dalian Enterprises and Coradix Technology Consulting.
Introduced in April 2020, the ArriveCan app was created by the federal government to track entrant health and contact data, and to digitize customs and immigration declarations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kristian Firth of GC Strategies, the ArriveScam contractor, won’t say why he lied about meeting with government officials in bars and breweries outside of work. pic.twitter.com/y6AFxNA9jo
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) April 17, 2024
Auditor General Karen Hogan will release an audit on Tuesday examining the ArriveCan contracts and payments to GC Strategies and other companies, specifically addressing policy compliance and value for money, according to the Canadian Press.
A prior report revealed Canada’s ArriveCan app cost $60 million due to poor record-keeping and reliance on external contractors. The initial ArriveCan contract was valued at $2.35 million.
