Procurement Ombudsman finds concerns regarding the fairness, openness and transparency of federal procurement

OTTAWA, June 28, 2012 /CNW/ - Procurement Ombudsman Frank Brunetta today released a report on the procurement practices of the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) with regard to the acquisition of training services.

In the report, submitted to the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, the Ombudsman raised concerns with respect to the CSPS favoring an existing contractor by issuing repetitive sole source contacts and contract splitting.

"After discussing the report with the CSPS President, I am satisfied that corrective action is being taken," said Mr. Brunetta. "This case is a good example of procurement staff advice being ignored by program managers. Procurement personnel and program managers have a shared responsibility in ensuring a department procurement control framework is respected".

Following a complaint regarding the award of contracts by the CSPS to the same supplier on a sole source basis, the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman (OPO) performed an independent review of the contracting files for the acquisition of training services.

OPO identified concerns with the overall process. Particularly, the evidence revealed the CSPS split contracts and issued repetitive sole source contracts to the same supplier.

Following this review, the CSPS informed OPO that a Management Action Plan was developed and measures were undertaken to address and mitigate the issues identified in the report.

Established in 2008, as part of the Federal Accountability Act, the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman is an independent organization with a government-wide mandate to strengthen the fairness, openness and transparency in federal procurement.

This report can be found on OPO's Website at www.opo-boa.gc.ca.

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