CEO of SAAQ allegedly misbehaves, according to SAAQ officials
The Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec's (SAAQ) latest CEO, Denis Marsolais, was reportedly misled regarding additional funds added to the SAAQclic contract, according to the testimonies of former internal verification director Daniel Pelletier before the Gallant Commission.
Since the launch of the CASA program in 2017, Pelletier, who has since retired, has raised concerns about several irregularities associated with the 458 million megacontract awarded to "The Alliance" of SAP and LGS. In May 2022, Marsolais requested Pelletier's opinion on a document to be presented to the Minister of Transport's cabinet concerning a proposed 222 million contract modification.
Pelletier strongly disagreed with the document's rationales for this additional amount, contesting several "scope additions" to the project. Pelletier deemed many of these additions unnecessary, arguing that they were already part of the software initially proposed or should have been included as standard features among the original contract's terms.
According to Pelletier, one of these controversial additions—the connection of SAAQclic to the Government Authentication Service (SAG)—should have been factored into the original costs and not considered an extra expense.
However, the SAAQ's vice-presidents, who have served longer than Marsolais, including Vice-President of Information Technology, Karl Malenfant, defend these scope additions.
Following his meeting at the minister's cabinet, Marsolais expressed frustration towards Pelletier, alleging a lack of proper preparation. Pelletier recalls, "[Marsolais] himself had been misled," and in a subsequent note presented to the commission, he warned Marsolais about being deceived by the SAAQ's upper management.
Pelletier's testimony continues later in the day. The discussion centers on maintaining the integrity of the project scope, ensuring that work remains within the originally agreed framework, and avoiding unnecessary expenses in order to preserve project clarity.
- The disagreement between Denis Marsolais and Daniel Pelletier over the proposed 222 million contract modification for SAAQclic highlights the importance of politics and policy-and-legislation in transportation, as Pelletier argued that many of the additions were unnecessary and should have been included in the original contract's terms.
- The controversy surrounding the connection of SAAQclic to the Government Authentication Service (SAG) has raised questions about the transparency of the transportation sector's policy-and-legislation, with Pelletier claiming that it should have been factored into the original costs and not considered an extra expense.
