The Office of the Auditor General of Canada will investigate the cost of the digital interface of the Border Services Agency (ASFC) used to collect customs duties. The price of the contributions management and revenue management portal (GCRA) amounts to more than $ 625 million.
The new digital portal has multiplied service interruptions and billing errors from its launch last fall. This system, at the heart of the perception of more than $ 40 billion in customs duties per year, has been developing since 2010.
L’ASFC had initially allocated $ 371 million over 10 years to the system of the CRASbut cost overruns have become inevitable.
The invoice reached $ 625 million in development and maintenance, dated March 31, 2024. The price could have increased, since the agency has not provided an estimate for more than a year. The authorized amounts now amount to more than $ 700 million.
The Deloitte firm alone pocketed $ 226.3 million, according to theASFCor 82 % of subcontracting expenses. The firm McKinsey obtained two contracts valued at 2.7 million between 2016 and 2019.
The office of the Canada Auditor General Puts on the file of the system of the CRASAt the request of the Quebec Bloc, which claimed an audit in particular on the role of suppliers and subcontractors.
The system of CRAS is a real disaster
estimates the blocking spokesman for international trade, Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, in a written declaration.
Here we have a mixture of phoenix and arrival. When Ottawa touches digital, nothing is fine.
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, spokesperson for Quebec Bloc in International Trade
Photo : Radio-Canada
The office of the auditor general specifies that the performance audit concerning the system of CRAS has not yet started. No specific calendar has been confirmed.
L’ASFC was the subject of an overwhelming report last year, about the Application Application. The office of the auditor general had concluded that it was impossible to know the real cost of the application, developed during the pandemic, due to the gaps in the agency’s financial documents.
The initial version of ArriveCan cost $ 80,000. The 177 subsequent updates exploded the bill to more than $ 59 million.
