(Ottawa) Violations of federal government procurement policies in the awarding of contracts to McKinsey since 2011 have been frequent, the Auditor General notes in his latest report. The consultancy was awarded 97 contracts worth 209 million, most of which were awarded without competitive bidding.
Absence of documents justifying the need for the contract, non-existent cost estimate, non-supervision of the works by the company, Public Services and Ministry of Supply not playing its part…
These findings recall what Karen Hogan already did in her February report on the application VisitCAN. The Auditor General is issuing a single recommendation on Tuesday on conflicts of interest and calling on ministries and state agencies to review his previous recommendations on awarding contracts. He recommends that they identify “real or apparent conflicts of interest” in advance and keep this declaration in the purchasing file.
The audit was carried out at the request of the House of Commons Government Operations Committee, which examined professional services contracts awarded to McKinsey. The company’s former big boss, Dominic Barton, had privileged contacts with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before the committee in February 2023.
The auditor general examined 97 contracts awarded to the consulting firm between 2011 and 2023, covering both the last mandate of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government and the mandates of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. He notes that 200 million of their total value of 209 million has been spent.
Mme Hogan found that nine out of ten federal departments and agencies and eight out of ten Crown agencies that awarded contracts to McKinsey “failed in at least one aspect of their procurement policies and guidelines for at least one contract”. He cites as an example an invitation to tender process where the evaluation of bids was insufficient to support this choice. In other cases, no justification is provided for bypassing the tender process.
More details to follow.
