The report of the Auditor General of Québec is tabled in the National Assembly - Press Release no. 1

QUÉBEC, May 25, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, Ms. Guylaine Leclerc, Auditor General, makes public the report entitled Value-for-Money Audit (spring 2016). It includes nine chapters.

Observations of the Auditor General (Chapter 1)

In this chapter, Ms. Leclerc makes comments on internal audit within the government of Québec, a key element of sound governance. She also presents the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan.

Information Technology Consolidated Procurement Contracts – Special Audit (Part 2) (Chapter 2)

This audit, carried out at the Centre de services partagés du Québec (CSPQ), completes the special audit submitted in November 2015 which concerned information technology contracts. The Auditor General concludes that the acquisition strategy retained with regard to the two contracts examined did not always yield the desired results. The CSPQ does not have the assurance that the departments and bodies benefited from the expected price decreases or obtained models reflecting technological development.

Billed Clinical Costs for Medical Services (Chapter 3)

This chapter reproduces entirely the report made public on May 10, 2016 concerning the billed clinical costs for medical services. Globally, Ms. Leclerc notices that the billing of clinical fees has been ambiguous for many years. Neither the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux nor the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec have a complete picture of the clinical fees billed to patients.

Régie du logement: Processing of Applications (Chapter 4)

The Auditor General notes that the Régie du logement has not implemented procedures to minimize processing times. It does not calculate the average total processing time per application or the time required to clear inventories. The 40,000 or so applications included in the inventory influence the expeditiousness and accessibility of the tribunal. In addition, the scheduling process does not allow an optimal use of hearing time. For the period aimed by the audit, 31% of the commissioners' time was not used for hearing cases.

Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec: Measures to Assess the Effectiveness and Performance (Chapter 5)

The Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec has adopted several governance mechanisms, including the measures required by the Act respecting the governance of state-owned enterprises, to assess its performance.

Société des alcools du Québec: Purchase and Sale of Alcoholic Beverages and Performance (Chapter 6)

For the purchase of alcoholic beverages, the means put into place by the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) to help obtain the best prices and most advantageous conditions could be strengthened. Moreover, the SAQ did not examine its markup structure which determine the selling price of its products. Various changes were made to the markup structure over the past 10 years, but the foundations have remained unchanged. In addition, there is an imbalance between the traffic in SAQ outlets and the hours worked by employees.

Government of Québec's Electronic Call for Tenders System (Chapter 7)

This audit was carried out at four different entities and at the Secrétariat du Conseil du trésor (SCT). Contracts related to two of the audited entities, worth $4.4 million, are not entered in the government's electronic call for tenders system (SEAO). Moreover, the control and monitoring mechanisms related to the publication of information by the audited entities in the SEAO are sometimes incomplete or missing. Besides, the business model used by the SCT for developing and operating the SEAO raises questions.  For example, there is a significant delay of nearly three years in the delivery of the electronic tender functionality, which was initially planned for June 2013.

Picture of Internal Audit within the Government of Québec (Chapter 8)

This study presents the principal observations arising from the responses obtained to a questionnaire sent to 35 entities within the Government of Québec. Ms. Leclerc mentions that most of the departments require several improvements to enable their audit committee and internal audit unit to fully play their role. In addition, the interventions of the Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur and of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux are limited in terms of internal audit within their network.

Centre de services partagés du Québec: Acquisition of Goods and Services – Follow-Up of a Value-for-Money Audit (Chapter 9)

The work done by the Auditor General led her to conclude that the implementation of the actions taken by the CSPQ is satisfactory for 8 of the 11 recommendations related to the acquisition process and for 3 of the 9 recommendations related to the governance of acquisitions.

The full report is available only in French.

Source:

Lucie Roy, Director Cabinet, communications et affaires stratégiques Auditor General of Québec Tel.: [phone]

SOURCE Vérificateur Général du Québec

Lucie Roy, Director, Cabinet, communications et affaires stratégiques, Auditor General of Québec, Tel.: [phone]