19-151715 - ACAN - Pilot Project Outsourcing Threat Information for Official Travel

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) has a 24/7 duty of care for Canada Based Staff (CBS) abroad, including during their official travel outside of mission areas. Similarly, DFATD has a Duty of Care for Locally Engaged Staff during business hours and when they are on official travel. A Duty of Care Treasury Board Submission identified that a greater presence of threat information for outside the Mission area is required as officials are the most vulnerable when outside of Mission area. Given the scope of the research, analysis, drafting and coordination required, the Threat Assessment Unit (IDSA) would need to grow exponentially to be able to meet this need through in-house products. Therefore, to address this critical requirement within existing funds, an innovative pilot project is proposed to outsource this function.

DFATD has identified a requirement for the provision of itinerary specific, unclassified threat reports for personnel on official travel outside of the mission area. The scope of the project will be focused on 9 countries within Africa – Nigeria, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Central African Republic (CAR), Mali and Somalia. In addition, should a threat materialize once travel is underway, the contractor will send time sensitive threat alerts to the appropriate stakeholder.

The ability to have threat information that is tailored to specific itineraries would enable mitigation measures to be put in place in advance of travel. Furthermore, the new capacity to generate and disseminate threat alerts while travel is underway would support DFATD’s security professionals as they determine any required adjustments to travel plans or mitigation measures