Remarks by the Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board at the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates
Speech
February 8, 2023 - Ottawa, ON
Check against delivery
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People.
With me are senior officials from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, notably Roch Huppé, Comptroller General of Canada, and Catherine Luelo, Chief Information Officer of Canada.
Mr. Chairman, contracting for services is a common practice in governments and private organizations in Canada and around the world.
Typically, these services are used to complement the work of Canada's own public service.
Contracted services may be requested to provide specific expertise, to deal with unexpected fluctuations in workload or to provide an independent audit of a project.
Since 2011, spending on professional services as a percentage of total government expenditures has largely remained the same.
Compared to spending on the public service, the use of professional services has also remained relatively consistent since 2011.
Every year, there are hundreds of thousands of contracts for everything from pencils and vehicles to professional services. Given this volume, there are controls throughout government, which start in departments and flow all the way up to the Treasury Board, depending on value, complexity and risk.
Fundamentally, these controls are established by the Treasury Board Directive on Managing Procurement.
While the decision to acquire goods and services rests with each deputy minister, the directive sets out expectations and requirements to ensure that government procurement is fair, open and transparent.
Each department must have a senior official responsible for procurement.
This official establishes, implements and maintains a framework of processes, systems and controls.
Departments must:
· maintain the integrity of the process and protect it from fraud;
· define the intended outcomes;
· get the best value, including a fair price, and
· ensure what’s delivered meets the quality, standards and service levels in the contract.
Departments are only authorized to enter into contracts up to specific thresholds. Any contracts that exceed them require Treasury Board approval.
Departments and agencies publicly disclose contracts over $10,000. Actual expenditures are reported annually in the Public Accounts.
We have a responsibility, which we take very seriously, to ensure spending remains prudent and delivers results.
Accordingly, at the request of the Prime Minister, Minister Jaczek and I are overseeing a review of all procurements with McKinsey.
TBS is requiring departments’ internal audit teams to review their contracts with McKinsey to assess if the contracts complied with Treasury Board policy and departmental internal control frameworks.
TBS will review these assessments and undertake corrective action if there are issues.
We are requesting that Crown corporations, which are not subject to Treasury Board contracting requirements, conduct similar reviews.
As an additional level of verification, we have asked the Procurement Ombudsman to provide a third-party assessment of compliance with contracting rules.
Following these reviews, TBS will see if there are opportunities to enhance the Directive on the Management of Procurement, for example, by providing guidance to departments to support procurement decisions.
We look forward to considering any recommendations from this committee.
Canada's procurement controls are administered by dedicated public servants and have served governments of different stripes well.
However, if improvements are needed, we will make them.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on this issue.