IT subcontracting: SFPQ union wants a ‘Charbonneau 2.0’ Commission
Posted March 5, 2025 11:48 am.
Another union, this time representing government IT technicians, is calling for the public inquiry into SAAQclic to be extended to all government IT subcontracting.
This time it is the Syndicat de la fonction publique et parapublique du Québec (SFPQ), which represents the government’s IT technicians and support staff, as well as 2,000 employees who work at the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ).
In an interview on Wednesday, SFPQ general president Christian Daigle called for “a Charbonneau Commission 2.0” on the Quebec government’s IT outsourcing.
He asserted that IT failures are not limited to SAAQclic and pointed to other problems already experienced with the RENIR communications system and the SAGIR payroll system.
Like the Syndicat des professionnels du gouvernement du Québec earlier this week, the SFPQ is denoucing that the government does not have, or no longer has, the expertise to evaluate or challenge proposals made by private subcontractors.
“These are companies that come in to assess the needs that the government may have, because there is a situation that is not working, let’s say, in a department. It’s a company that comes in to assess the need and it’s the same company that then bids through the other bidders and most of the time gets the contract to do the job too,” says Daigle.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
