Contractual provisions not taken into account during the development of ArriveCan: auditor

Ignored policies and management failures led to the development of the overly expensive and harmful ArriveCan app, according to an investigation by the Auditor General of Canada.

The federal government launched the app in April 2020 as a way to digitize customs and immigration declarations, track health and contact information for people entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The auditor found that the government's reliance on sole-source outside contractors drove up application costs and that those costs were not properly controlled.

Hogan estimated the cost of the app at about $59.5 million, but project management was so poor that the final amount is impossible to know.

The first ArriveCan contract was originally valued at just $2.35 million.

The government failed to document initial discussions with contractors or why it did not use a competitive process, Hogan said in a report released Monday.

He ultimately found that most of the problems with app development stemmed from the initial decision to rely on non-competitive contracts with outside firms.

Hogan also found little evidence that the app had been properly tested, which may have contributed to more than 10,000 people being sent to 14-day quarantines in 2022, even if they had confirmed vaccinations.

“Overall, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Public Services and Procurement Agency of Canada have repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCAN application,” Hogan said in a Monday report.

The app was introduced as a mandatory measure in the early days of the pandemic, when the government effectively closed borders to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Canadians and others allowed to enter the country were required to provide personal information to the government for quarantine purposes.

As the response to the pandemic evolved, so did the app. The auditor found that ArriveCan had been updated 177 times since its launch and before the app became voluntary in October 2022.

The government has no evidence that the Canada Border Services Agency conducted user testing of the 25 critical updates to ensure the app actually works.

Only three updates appear to be fully tested and documented.

“Without assurance that testing has been completed, agencies are at risk of launching an application that may not work as intended,” Hogan's report said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 12, 2024.