OGGO – QPN from PSPC – Issue: Integrity in federal procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic– February 15, 2023

Context

In the fast-paced and constantly evolving marketplace to secure necessary products and supplies to support the Government of Canada’s response to the pandemic, questions may arise as to the measures that Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has in place to protect the integrity of the federal procurement system during this period.

Suggested response

• To help ensure the Government of Canada does business with ethical suppliers, a government-wide Integrity Regime is in place
• This Regime holds suppliers accountable for their misconduct, and also encourages them to cooperate with law enforcement and take corrective action
• Public Services and Procurement Canada has consistently applied the Integrity Regime to all procurements in a manner consistent with the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy and no contracts have been awarded to a supplier that is ineligible or suspended under the Regime

Background

The Government of Canada has a framework of laws, regulations and policies in place to protect the integrity of the federal procurement system. Public Services and Procurement Canada administers several programs under this framework, including the government-wide Integrity Regime, the Federal Contracting Fraud Tip Line, and increased oversight for the detection of bid-rigging.

The Integrity Regime is designed to help ensure that the Government does business with ethical suppliers and incentivizes suppliers to ensure strong ethics and compliance frameworks. Under the Regime, a supplier may be suspended or declared ineligible to do business with the Government if, in the previous 3 years, it, members of its board of directors or its affiliates, have been charged with or convicted of one of the offences listed in the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy in Canada or a similar offence abroad.

Under the current Regime, 3 companies are ineligible to do business with the Government of Canada due to convictions for a listed offence (Les Entreprises Chatel Inc., R.M. Belanger Limited and Les Industries Garanties Limitée).

Currently there are two active administrative agreements with suppliers, one agreement is with SNC-Lavalin in lieu of suspension following the resolution of criminal charges in Quebec by way of a Remediation Agreement; the other administrative agreement is with a supplier who had their period of ineligibility reduced to 5 years (Hickey Construction Ltd).

In 2018, the Government announced its plans to enhance the Integrity Regime by increasing the number of triggers for debarment, broadening the scope of business ethics covered by the Regime, and integrating greater flexibility within the debarment process. Following this announcement, there was considerable public discourse around corporate wrongdoing as well as governments’ response to such misconduct. As a result, the Government announced that it was taking additional time to reassess elements of the proposed Regime and potential next steps.

In the interim, the current Ineligibility and Suspension Policy remains in effect.