Two Canadian tech companies recreate ArriveCan to show it can be done for much less than $54 million

[ad_1]

Two Canadian tech companies tried to recreate the ArriveCan app over the Thanksgiving long weekend, showing that the federal government doesn’t need to spend a reported $54 million on border crossing apps.

TribalScale and Lazer Technologies, technology companies that specialize in building apps and other software for enterprise customers, announced their respective projects on October 7.

“We are very upset with the unneeded spending on ArriveCan. [TribalScale] We will be rebuilding this app over the weekend!” Sheetal JaitleyTribalScale co-founder, in a Twitter post on Oct. 7.

Zainmanjico-founder laser technologyannounced a similar project shortly after Jaitly’s announcement.

Swastika Said On October 10, one of the company’s developers said, “We built an ArriveCAN clone within two days.”

“While it’s important to have some sympathy for the challenges involved in building a complete project like this, there are other ways Canada can tap into its amazing talent pool to produce superior technology in a more cost-effective manner. I hope that shows something, Manji told The Epoch Times.

Recent Globe and Mail report The federal government spent $54 million to build the ArriveCan mobile app. This required travelers to use the app until the end of September to report their vaccination status when entering Canada and, if applicable, provide their COVID-19 test results. .

The Epoch Times reached out to TribalScale to update on progress, but did not hear back immediately.

told jaitley glove TribalScale staff came up with the idea to recreate the app while discussing government spending on the app.

“We all started laughing and one started eating the other. ‘Hey, why don’t we do this and show the world that this is completely ridiculous?'” he said. .

1 user On Twitter on October 9, the ArriveCan app announced the government’s Information Technology Security Guidance Publication 33 (ITSG-33), which sets out cybersecurity mandates for government programs, writing, “I want to know how the app I built over the weekend fits into ITSG-33.”

“Do you trust banking apps? It’s quite possible that we built it.” answered Jaitley. “We understand security and regulation and $54 million is still wasted [spending]–How do you defend this? ”

The Epoch Times reached out to Public Services and Procurement Canada for comment but did not immediately hear back.

“No apology”

Conservative MPs criticized the government’s ArriveCan spending. question period At the House of Commons on October 7.

“What Canadians need is a change in Liberal government policy that they are wasting Canadian taxpayers money, as they did with the $54 million ArriveCan app. I’m embarrassed that it costs less than a unit.” Conservative MP Michael Barrett.

“And we know this app is not based on science. It was all based on division and stigmatization,” he added. if there is, [the federal government] What do we want to know, what Canadians want to know, which liberal insiders got rich with these deals?”

Liberal MP Anthony Hausfather defended government spending on the app, saying the $54 million price tag was tied to “multiple different contracts.”

“We make no apologies for the app that saved the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians,” Housefather said. “This was part of a global health strategy to protect Canadians.”

Conservative MP Luc Berthold said ArriveCan was “certainly introduced to make some people rich”.

“$54 million is the equivalent of one million hours of work for an engineer,” he said. “That equates to 31,000 weeks or 596 years for one person. The numbers just don’t add up.”

house father He said the $54 million was spent on developing the app as well as supporting accessibility and maintenance.

“I make no apologies for the app that saved my life,” he repeated.

Andrew Chen contributed to this report.

peter wilson

follow

Peter Wilson is a reporter based in Ontario, Canada.



[ad_2]

By Ana BanuelosPosted on