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

Catherine Morrison · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 9:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 7

Ottawa says it has banned the largest contractor that worked connected the ArriveCan app from entering into contracts oregon existent spot agreements with the authorities for 7 years.

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

Last year, the section suspended the information presumption of GC Strategies, which the auditor wide says was awarded much than $19 cardinal for the project.

That determination followed an earlier determination to suspend the institution from procurement processes wrong the department. The authorities besides barred 2 different companies that contributed to the ArriveCan project, Dalian Enterprises and Coradix Technology Consulting, from participating successful procurement opportunities.

The national authorities launched the app successful April 2020 arsenic a mode to way wellness and interaction accusation for radical entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, arsenic good arsenic to digitize customs and migration declarations.

A study by Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan recovered the government's record-keeping was mediocre and its reliance connected extracurricular contractors allowed the outgo of the task to balloon to $60 million.

The archetypal ArriveCan declaration was initially valued astatine conscionable $2.35 million.

On Tuesday, Hogan is acceptable to present an audit focusing connected whether the contracts awarded and the payments made to GC Strategies and different incorporated companies were "in accordance with applicable argumentation instruments" and were bully worth for money.

Public Services and Procurement Canada says the authorities continues to instrumentality enactment to "strengthen the integrity of the procurement process."

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

GC Strategies spouse Kristian Firth was ordered to look earlier the barroom of the House of Commons past twelvemonth aft refusing to reply questions astatine a committee hearing.

Firth was grilled by MPs for 2 hours, though Liberals opted retired of questioning aft a doctor's enactment provided to the clerk of the House recommended that helium not look due to the fact that of mental-health issues.

GC Strategies did not make oregon negociate the ArriveCan app, but it was tasked by the national authorities to assemble a squad to implicit immoderate parts of the project.