Export Development Canada's head office in Ottawa is shown on Feb. 14, 2019.Justin Tang/The Globe and Mail
Conservative senators say they are frustrated by their attempts to learn more from the federal government about $208-million in contracts given to Accenture Inc., to administer the pandemic emergency loan program for businesses.
The Canada Emergency Business Account program extended $49-billion in emergency loans to businesses in the early months of the pandemic. Ottawa gave responsibility of the program to Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation. But as The Globe and Mail revealed in February, EDC actually outsourced much of the work to Accenture, an international consulting firm.
Over many months, the government provided more information about the outsourcing work, such as the fact that the contract with Accenture was sole-sourced. Some Conservative senators have continued to seek information from the government about the contracts, such as whether cabinet ministers were involved in the outsourcing decision and why the agreement was never pro-actively disclosed.
On Thursday, EDC tabled responses in Parliament to questions the senators had posed in May and June.
EDC said it made the decision to outsource because of the complexity of the task and informed the government at the time. “EDC would not have been able to deliver CEBA without vendor assistance,” the response says. “Accenture’s capacity augmented EDC’s staff and provided technology services, not solely consultant advice.”
In another response, the agency said “a complex, competitive procurement process takes a minimum of 6-8 months,” and there wasn’t that time to set up the emergency loan program.
EDC said it is “aware of” government guidelines requiring contract disclosure. But “as a crown corporation, EDC does not fall under federal procurement processes. EDC does have a separate disclosure process for award notices for applicable procurement contracts. This process was implemented in December 2021, subsequent to the Accenture award for CEBA.”
Senator Don Plett, speaking on behalf of the Conservative senators seeking information on the contracts, said the months-long delay and the lack of detail was “infuriating.”
“I’ve lost count of the number of questions we’ve asked on Accenture contracts,” he said. “We’re obviously being given the runaround treatment.”
He questioned EDC’s explanation for not disclosing the information. “If the Trudeau government now claims a disclosure process was put in place in December, 2021, why didn’t they disclose the contracts worth many millions of dollars that they signed in 2022 and even this year? And they call that transparency? I don’t buy it.”
Katherine Cuplinskas, spokesperson for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, said the government partnered with EDC to deliver the loans as quickly as possible, but otherwise did not have comment on Mr. Plett’s concerns. EDC did not have a response on Friday.
In addition to EDC and Accenture, financial institutions also had a role in administering the CEBA loans. Business owners applied for loans through their banks, which extended them the money. However, the federal government has guaranteed the loans and the Canada Revenue Agency has been tasked with collections.
A recent EDC report showed financial institutions were paid $182-million in fees for their role in the CEBA program in the 2021-22 fiscal year, almost double the $92-million they were paid in 2020-21.
The initial repayment deadline for CEBA loans is Jan. 18, 2024, to have the loans partly forgiven. After that, interest accrues at 5 per cent. The loans are due in full on Dec. 31, 2026.
All 13 provincial and territorial premiers wrote to the federal government on Friday to ask that the initial deadline be extended a full year to help financially strapped small business owners.