Opening Statement before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
Securing Personal Protective Equipment and Medical Devices
(Report 10—2021 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada)
10 February 2022
Andrew Hayes
Deputy Auditor General
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are happy to appear before the committee today to discuss our audit of securing personal protective equipment and medical devices. I want to start by acknowledging that this hearing is taking place on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People. Joining me are Jean Goulet, the principal who was responsible for the audit, and Milan Duvnjak, the director who led the audit team.
Personal protective equipment and medical devices are essential to the safety of Canadians, especially in health care settings and during a pandemic. Effective management ensures that increased demand can be met in a public health emergency.
The audit focused on whether the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada helped to meet the needs of provincial and territorial governments for N95 masks, medical gowns, testing swabs, and ventilators before and during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The audit also focused on whether Public Services and Procurement Canada provided adequate procurement support to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
We found that before the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada had not addressed long-standing and known issues affecting the systems and practices used to manage the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile. There was no rationale justifying the quantities of equipment held in the stockpile. Some inventory records were inaccurate, and the agency lacked timely and relevant information to manage the stockpile. As a result, the agency managed the stockpile reactively and was not as prepared as it should have been to deal with the surge in requests for equipment that was triggered by the pandemic.
Despite these pre-existing issues, we found that when faced with the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada adapted their activities and helped meet the needs for personal protective equipment and medical devices across the country. As the pandemic persisted, collaboration and communication among the agency and other federal organizations, provinces and territories continued to improve.
The Public Health Agency of Canada moved from reactive management to informed planning and allocation. An initial shift to a bulk purchasing strategy, combined with improvements to how it assessed needs and allocated equipment, allowed the agency to meet the record number of requests for equipment from the provinces and territories. The agency also increased the capacity of the stockpile by outsourcing much of the warehousing and logistical support needed to deal with the exceptionally high volume of purchased equipment.
Health Canada reacted to the increased demand during the pandemic by modifying how it managed licence applications from suppliers so that they could be processed more quickly. The adapted process allowed for medical devices to be imported and sold while the licence applications were being evaluated. Should the evaluation subsequently show a problem, the department could take action. For example, it could seize equipment, stop the sales, and prevent future imports.
Public Services and Procurement Canada quickly adapted its procurement activities. The department adjusted to the situation by adopting bulk procurement, reassigning staff, and streamlining processes so that contracts could be awarded faster.
The department also adjusted to the pandemic by accepting some risks, such as often paying in advance. This expedited the purchase of large quantities of equipment in a highly competitive market where supply did not always keep pace with demand. However, the department did this without always conducting an assessment of the suppliers’ financial viability.
If the agency and the departments had not adapted their approaches to the circumstances, it is unlikely that the government would have been able to acquire the volume of equipment that was needed.
The Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, and Public Services and Procurement Canada agreed with the 4 recommendations we made in our report and have prepared action plans to address them.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have. Thank you.