GCSurplus: 80 years of giving surplus government assets a new life

Still selling military assets

GCSurplus has multiple platforms. Each of them has its own specialty.

GCTransfer encourages the transfer and reuse of assets across federal departments and agencies. GCSurplus acts as a marketplace that auctions and sells surplus assets to Canadians through open bidding. GCDonate offers surplus moveable assets for donation to charitable, non-profit and other eligible organizations. Finally, GCMil sells specialized assets, as well as an array of military assets to qualified recipients.

The transactions for GCMil require close collaboration with other federal organizations, most notably National Defence (DND). "We sell controlled equipment on behalf of the DND. Due to the nature of these assets, the items are not sold to individuals and can only be viewed by invitation," explains Nadia Boulanger, who is the current team lead with GCMil since 2022.

Boulanger joined GCSurplus in 2016 and had to master the complexities and nuances of the program. "Learning military language and acronyms is quite a feat. Sometimes, I have to look up the type of helicopter we are discussing in the middle of a meeting," she says with a smile.

In addition to her daily tasks, Boulanger sometimes has to travel to where assets are located to help prepare certain items for sale. "For example, some colleagues and I went to a DND depot in Montréal, where a 76-millimetre cannon, the one found on Canadian naval ships, was removed and prepared for shipping after being sold. That was a unique process," she notes.

In addition to DND, GCMil also collaborates with other departmental partners with specialized divestment needs, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Space Agency.

From horses to gaming systems

The GCSurplus National Capital Region (NCR) sales team may not sell cannons like their colleagues in GCMil, but they do sell...horses!

The annual sale is, in fact, a 4-month-long project, during which GCSurplus collaborates with the RCMP on the divestment of the horses. "This is one of the coolest projects I get to work on," says Michael Tsoukanas, the GCSurplus Operations Team Lead at the NCR warehouse.

The purpose of this auction is to offer surplus horses from the famous RCMP Musical Ride to serious and passionate buyers. The RCMP Breeding Program is world-renowned for the exceptional quality of its Hanoverian horses. And, while all of the horses are of excellent bloodlines, not all of them meet the Musical Ride's specific criteria or requirements. "The horses are sold because they don't meet RCMP's specifications like colour, personality or rideability."

The horses are a special project. Normally, GCSurplus sells a range of surplus items (for example, large printing presses, office furniture and industrial HVAC equipment) and seized articles (for example, gaming systems, motorcycles, bicycles, jewelry, watches and boats). According to Tsoukanas: "Nothing is typical, and that's what makes it so much fun! We serve over 120 departments and agencies in the National Capital Region, and each has their own requirements and divestment activities that require our involvement."

Tsoukanas' responsibilities are to oversee the daily operations of both the front and back of the warehouse, including all staff, health and safety requirements, security and divestment operations. Before starting this position in 2021, Tsoukanas was a divestment supervisor. His experience in that role prepared him for his current position. "Time management, interpersonal skills and attention to detail are essential," he explains.

Reuse before divestment

GCSurplus has laid out a set of strategies to assist departments with their divestment responsibilities. "We first encourage reuse of items within their departments or transfers to other federal departments," explains Tsoukanas. If that's not possible, GCSurplus sells the items to the public or donates them to eligible organizations such as not-for-profit agencies, as well as Indigenous groups and their communities. "We try really hard to ensure items are not sent to landfills and that we can find second homes for them."

Lack of space to store assets is one of the challenges many departments face. Often, they send them to the GCSurplus warehouse once they're declared surplus. "We take great pride in how we manage our warehouse, to ensure we have space available to serve all our clients in the most timely manner possible," Tsoukanas remarks.

For the past 80 years, through the organization we now know as GCSurplus, Canada has succeeded in reusing, transferring, selling or donating a huge array of surplus federal goods. In 2022 to 2023, over $50 million in revenue was returned to the Crown through more than 20,000 GCSurplus sales transactions. That's in addition to nearly 1,000 items that were transferred or donated for reuse by other organizations and almost 65,000 kilograms of batteries recycled.

"It's not surprising that many people are fascinated by the program and what we are able to achieve. They like to learn about what we do, the value we provide for our clients and support greening the environment, the framework in which we operate, and how we achieve the best overall value for the Crown," Tsoukanas says proudly.