Auditor general to table long-awaited report on controversial ArriveCAN app

Canada’a auditor general will release a long-awaited report into the controversial ArriveCAN application Monday morning, more than a year after being tasked to look into it.

Auditor General Karen Hogan’s report is scheduled to be tabled in the House of Commons around 11 a.m. Eastern. Hogan is also scheduled to appear before the House public accounts committee at 11:15 a.m. Eastern; she will then speak to reporters at 1 p.m. Eastern.

The auditor general was tasked on Nov. 2, 2022, to look into ArriveCAN, the controversial app introduced in April 2020 as a way to manage travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy auditor general Andrew Hayes told MPs on the public accounts committee the audit was “looking at whether the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Public Health Agency of Canada, and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) managed all aspects of ArriveCAN, including procurement and expected deliverables with due regard for economy, efficiency and effectiveness.”

While ArriveCAN was launched to help the country’s response to COVID-19, it proved to be a controversial tool fraught with technical setbacks.

A glitch in the app in 2022 sent more than 10,000 fully vaccinated travellers erroneous messages saying they needed to quarantine. Global News learned it took the government 12 days to notify travellers of the error.

There was also the issue of price: an early estimate for the app’s preliminary development put the cost at just $80,000 — but the total price tag has since soared to more than $54 million.

Then last January, the Globe and Mail published a story detailing the contracting process: Ottawa IT firm GCstrategies, which the government contracted to take on ArriveCAN and other projects to the tune of $44 million