Tag: ArriveCAN

Categories
Mobile Syrup

CBSA says review coming after admitting wrong company listed on ArriveCan contract

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is launching a review to examine the companies that received funding to develop the $54 million ArriveCan app after stating it failed to provide Parliament with accurate details.

As reported by The Globe and Mail, the CBSA listed ThinkOn as one of the 23 companies that worked on the app. However, the company’s CEO said the company wasn’t involved with the app’s development.

In a statement to The Globe, the CBSA said ThinkOn was included in “human error.” The company’s supposed contract was for $1.2 million, representing the sixth-largest payout on the list, and work took place between January 21st and March 31st, 2020. The work was listed as focusing on QR code scanning.

“Given the error, we are doing a full review of the list reported and will be in a position to share with your readers the company name in the coming days,” the CBSA told The Globe.

It’s not clear which company the CBSA originally meant to name.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: The Globe and Mail 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

ArriveCan cost $80,000 to make, but the government spent millions more

Following reports about federal government spending on the controversial ArriveCan app growing to $54 million, a new cost breakdown revealed it cost $80,000 to develop the app.

Per the Globe and Mail, the majority of the expenses can be traced to other related aspects of ArriveCan, just as updating the app, data management, cloud-hosting services and Service Canada call-centre time. The total breakdown is listed below:

  • New releases of ArriveCan (over 70 updates since launch): $8.8 million
  • Service Canada call-centre time: $7.5 million
  • Data management: $5.2 million
  • Indirect costs (like employee benefits and accommodations): $4.9 million
  • Identification of vaccinations: $4.6 million
  • Cloud hosting services: $4.6 million
  • IT systems: $4.5 million
  • Technical support: $4.5 million
  • Contingency: $3.8 million
  • Cyber security: $2.3 million
  • Website accessibility: $1.7 million
  • Internal project management: $1.6 million

The Globe got the figures after a parliamentary committee ordered federal departments to hand over key contracting documents related to ArriveCan by the end of the month. Moreover, the committee will hold at least two meetings about the app and hear from witnesses, including public servants and individuals from GCstrategies, the company that received the majority of federal spending related to work on the app.

This comes after a report earlier this month detailed $42 million in government spending on the app, with another $12.5 million approved to be spent throughout the rest of the year.

The high cost of the app is one of many concerns about ArriveCan, with privacy, the app’s mandatory nature, and ease of use also being top critiques.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: The Globe and Mail

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Federal government to drop ArriveCan app by month’s end: report

The federal government is planning to end a host of COVID restrictions at its boarders.

As reported by The Globe and Mail, the government will drop vaccination requirements for people entering the country, along with random testing and the mandatory use of ArriveCan, by the end of the month.

Various other media outlets have reported the same thing, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. However, Health Canada is yet to make an official statement.

“There have been no decisions made,” the agency told CP24.

“[Any changes] would be informed by the best practices, latest scientific evidence, data and domestic and international epidemiological situation and in close consultation with our provincial, territorial and international partners, including industry stakeholders.”

Many people have complained about the COVID restrictions Canada still imposes, which were adopted alongside airports in many other countries. However, most of those countries have dropped these restrictions, but Canada didn’t follow suit.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Via: The Globe and Mail, CP24

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Government says it fixed ArriveCAN bug that told iPhone users to quarantine

The federal government acknowledged that an ArriveCAN app glitch told fully vaccinated travellers they needed to quarantine last week. However, the government says it fixed the bug.

As reported by Global News, ArriveCAN told fully vaccinated travellers who showed no signs of having COVID-19 that they had to quarantine. The mistaken warning was reportedly delivered to roughly three percent of travellers and it appears to have only gone out to those using Apple devices.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) told Global that the CBSA and public health officials determine whether someone needs to quarantine, “not the app.”

However, the glitch has boosted growing concerns about ArriveCAN. The government introduced ArriveCAN during the pandemic, but unlike other pandemic-related tech (looking at you, COVID Alert), the government doesn’t plan to do away with ArriveCAN.

Instead, the government wants to modernize the border by getting people to use ArriveCAN to do pre-customs screening in an effort to speed up processing times at the border. So far, that hasn’t gone well. ArriveCAN is one of many factors contributing to chaos and delays at airports (although far from the biggest one), while some 40 percent of travellers at the Windsor border crossing aren’t using it. It’s created a situation where border service officers are just helping people fill out information in the app.

Moreover, others have pointed to issues with the app’s mandatory nature and data collection, highlighting privacy concerns. Bianca Wylie, a partner at Digital Public and co-founder of Tech Reset Canada, has written and tweeted extensively about issues with ArriveCAN.

The mandatory nature of ArriveCAN is especially concerning given the app’s various reliability issues. Mistaken warnings, bugs and other problems could be more easily forgiven if travellers didn’t need to use the app.

Header image: Shutterstock

Source: Global News

Categories
Mobile Syrup

40 percent of travellers at Windsor border crossing not filling out ArriveCAN

Upwards of 40 percent of travellers arriving at the Windsor, Ontario border crossing aren’t filling out ArriveCAN.

Mark Weber, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, told CBC’s Windsor Morning that travellers are either incorrectly filing the app out, forgetting to do it, or don’t understand that it’s mandatory.

In turn, border officers have to help people fill the app out, further creating delays first started with low staffing levels.

“We’re in a situation where we’re kind of not doing our actual work as border service officers anymore. All of our time is being spent on the app,” Weber said.

Despite the ongoing complaints against the app, the government stands by its use. “As travel volumes have increased in the spring and early summer of 2022, the use of ArriveCAN has become more important to relieving pressure at the border,” the Public Health Agency of Canada told the news outlet.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: CBC Windsor