Federal Employees Spent More Than 134,000 Hours Working on ArriveCan App, Ottawa Says

Ottawa Reports Federal Employees Devoted Over 134,000 Hours to Developing ArriveCan App

March 25, 2024 TruthUSA

Federal employees spent over 134,000 hours working on ArriveCan despite the government spending more than $59 million on private contractors to develop the app, according to parliamentary documents.

The government released this information on March 18 following a request by Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. Mr. Scheer’s inquiry sought the number of federal employees involved in ArriveCan and the time they dedicated to the application.

In response, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) disclosed that 35 of its employees worked on ArriveCan from March 2020 to September 2022 in addition to their regular duties, without specifying exact hours. The agency mentioned that the assigned tasks were not systematically tracked.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provided detailed data, stating that in 2021-2022, 38 full-time equivalent employees spent 74,455 working hours on ArriveCan, and in the following fiscal year, 31 full-time equivalent employees dedicated 59,598 working hours to the app.

Criticism has been directed at the federal government by opposition parties and government watchdogs concerning the amount of money spent on the development of ArriveCan and the distribution of funds through contracts.

In a report released last month, Auditor General Karen Hogan highlighted that several government agencies did not adhere to proper contract and management practices during the app’s development.

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“I am deeply concerned by what this audit didn’t find,” shared Auditor General Karen Hogan with MPs. “We didn’t find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why contracting decisions were made.”

The report criticized the CBSA for its “poor” financial records on the app, stating that the true cost could not be fully determined. The reported $59.5 million cost was an estimate based on available information.

The ArriveCan app was utilized to monitor the vaccination status of travelers entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A report on ArriveCan by Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic, released on Jan. 29, revealed that 76 percent of contractors hired for the application did not perform any work, raising significant concerns.

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