Public Services and Procurement Canada
Summary of conclusions and recommendations: Evaluation of the Fairness Monitoring Program

Initiative description

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is committed to excelling in government operations and ensuring sound stewardship on behalf of Canadians by delivering high-quality services and programs that meet the needs of federal organizations. The Fairness Monitoring Program (FMP) was created as a formal oversight mechanism to provide management, suppliers, clients and Canadians with independent assurance that departmental activities such as the procurement of goods, services or construction services, acquisition and disposal of real property, disposal of Crown assets, and grants and contributions are conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner.

Evaluation objective, scope and methodology

This evaluation examined the relevance (continued need, alignment with federal priorities and departmental strategic outcomes, and alignment with PSPC roles and responsibilities) and performance (achievement of its expected outcomes and program efficiency and economy) of the FMP.

The evaluation was examined based on the following lines of evidence:

• Document review
• Comparative review
• Interviews
• Survey
• Financial analysis
• Data analysis

Evaluation constraints and limitations

Limitations included low response rates to specific questions from the survey of contracting authorities; also, no public opinion research was conducted to solicit Canadians' views as to the role of the FMP in ensuring fair, open and transparent procurement. Comparability of fairness monitoring programs in other government jurisdictions determined that these programs contained little in the way of innovations or lessons learned that might enhance the FMP.

Evaluation findings

Relevance

The FMP is relevant in that the program supports PSPC's strategic outcome of sound stewardship. While there is no legislative or regulatory requirement for the program, it is aligned with the minister's Mandate Letter, the Speech from the Throne and the Federal Accountability Act with respect to supporting open and transparent government. The program ensures perceived and actual fairness in the procurement process and allows issues to be identified and resolved in real time.

Performance

The program is achieving its immediate and intermediate outcomes for the most part. Most procurements warranting coverage are being monitored. Clients perceive fairness monitoring to be timely and of quality. Over 300 fairness issues have been identified and resolved in the course of procurements, which has led to the identification of some best practices.

Immediate outcomes could be improved through revisions to the current Policy on Fairness Monitoring for greater clarity on the criteria for assessing the need for fairness monitoring. As well, lessons learned reviews could be used effectively to identify systemic issues that indicate the need for changes to procurement policies or guidelines.

The program is operating efficiently and economically. The cost of fairness monitoring relative to the value of monitored procurements is negligible (.01%). The program is operating at a low cost and meeting its large mandate. Internal program costs per fairness monitoring engagement has declined, mainly due to staff vacancies while costs of contracted fairness monitors have increased slightly.

Recommendations

The Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM), Departmental Oversight Branch, should implement changes currently being considered to the Policy on Fairness Monitoring to ensure that all high-risk, high-sensitivity, high-complexity procurements are assessed for monitoring needs whether or not they require ministerial or Treasury Board approval.

The ADM, Departmental Oversight Branch, should take steps to ensure that lessons learned are based on an analysis of all fairness issues identified in the course of monitoring; and that reviews of lessons learned are carried out on a regular basis. In addition, the lessons learned should be shared on a regular basis with Defence and Marine Procurement and Acquisitions, to inform changes to relevant policies, guidelines, procurement manuals and tools.

The ADMs of Defence and Marine Procurement and Acquisitions should ensure that policies, guidelines and procurement manuals, in addition to the design of procurement tools supporting them, be regularly reviewed and updated, as warranted based on any systemic fairness issues identified through the FMP's analysis of lessons learned.