Government Operations committee  I absolutely have not.

Government Operations committee  I can't comment on third parties. I can't comment on his quote.

Government Operations committee  That would be his business opinion.

Government Operations committee  Again, I can't comment.

Government Operations committee  No, I was not.

Government Operations committee  Under...? I did not reach out to the vice-president of CBSA's transformation.

Government Operations committee  No, I am not registered as a lobbyist. That is not my business.

Government Operations committee  From an industry perspective, I hazard to go there only because I'm not an expert. I'm still doing a data science course. From a Government of Canada perspective, I have to comment and again give kudos to the Treasury Board for stepping up and starting to address AI and the AI space.

Government Operations committee  I'm sorry, Chair, that I misunderstood. Thank you for the clarification. To be candid with you, it is a space that I try to stay away from, and that's why I go through these other firms. It's actually quite a bit of overhead for me. If I were to open my company and try to contract directly with the federal government, there would be considerably more overhead than I can manage while I try to actually do consulting.

Government Operations committee  Chair, thank you very much for this question in particular. Again, as a consultant I have no visibility to a company bid. I'm one of many that would go into an RFP, if you will. If I could suggest, the resource bid is the resource hired. At a minimum, the resource that has bid on that RFP would be offered the first right of refusal.

Government Operations committee  No, I have not.

Government Operations committee  I was introduced to Botler through GC Strategies. My background is actually in business process re-engineering, so I was engaged—again, I'll pull up the exact wording—to provide advisory research, document compilation and report writing to Botler. As far as whatever business they signed....

Government Operations committee  I understood that Botler and GC Strategies were working with CBSA.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  To Botler specifically.