Practice Reviews - Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the Procurement Ombudsman's mandate with regard to procurement practice reviews?
• What do you mean by fairness, openness and transparency?
• What is a procurement practice review?
• How will the Procurement Ombudsman improve the fairness, openness and transparency of federal government procurement practices?
• How are topics for procurement practice reviews chosen?
• How does the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman conduct its reviews?
• How does the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman ensure the quality of its reviews?
• How does the Procurement Ombudsman report on procurement practice reviews?

What is the Procurement Ombudsman's mandate with regard to procurement practice reviews?

The Procurement Ombudsman reviews the procurement practices of federal government departments and agencies for acquiring goods and services to assess their fairness, openness, and transparency, and make any appropriate recommendations for their improvement.

The Procurement Ombudsman can review the procurement practices of most federal government departments and agencies with the exception of:

• the Canadian Security Intelligence Service,
• the staff of the Senate and the House of Commons, and
• Crown Corporations.

What do you mean by fairness, openness and transparency?

As defined by the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman,

• Fairness is providing equal treatment to current and potential suppliers.
• Openness is providing all potential suppliers with the opportunity to submit bids for government procurement.
• Transparency is providing information to Canadians in a timely manner that facilitates public scrutiny of the decisions made and actions undertaken.

What is a procurement practice review?

The Office of the Procurement Ombudsman defines this as an independent, objective review of federal government procurement practices including the application of procurement policies, and the processes, tools and activities related to acquiring goods and services, using a systematic, evidence-based approach.

Reviews may be "one-off" (self-contained and independent); part of a series examining different aspects of a particular situation; or cyclical, designed to be updated on a regular basis to determine degrees of change.

How will the Procurement Ombudsman improve the fairness, openness and transparency of federal government procurement practices?

In order to be helpful and part of the solution, the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman makes balanced, useful and doable recommendations for improvement. These recommendations are developed taking into consideration comments received from departments involved in the reviews and are published in our final report.

The results of our reviews are available to suppliers and the public, through our website, leading to increased awareness and understanding of federal government procurement practices.

The Office also conducts studies and benchmarking to identify effective practices and innovations, nationally and internationally, in order to share these with departments so they can benefit from other's success stories.

How are topics for procurement practice reviews chosen?

Topics for practice reviews are determined by the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman based on an annual planning process. This process includes a scan of issues raised to our Office by suppliers and government officials, in or by the media, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal's determinations, reports of the Auditor General and internal audit reports of various departments. We also seek advice from government departments and supplier associations.

We assess our list of possible review topics to identify the issues posing the greatest risk to fairness, openness and transparency of the federal procurement system, and those that would be of most common interest to suppliers, departments and parliamentarians.

The final step is taking into consideration the availability and experience of internal and external resources, our ability to complete reviews in a timely fashion, and the complexity of possible review topics.

How does the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman conduct its reviews?

Generally, procurement practice reviews are conducted using a three-step process:

• Preliminary Assessment: the review team increases its understanding of the area under review (e.g., the organization, process, and issues), policy or regulatory requirements, roles and responsibilities, potential risks, and key success factors. This includes undertaking a preliminary analysis of the subject under review in order to determine whether further analysis is required;
• Detailed Assessment: during this step, further information is collected and a detailed analysis is conducted. Activities may include interviews with departmental employees and experts; reviewing documents and files; and researching procurement practices in other jurisdictions;
• Reporting: the review team drafts the final report, based on the facts and analysis. Once completed, it is shared with the concerned department(s) for consideration and comment prior to being finalized.

How does the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman ensure the quality of its reviews?

Procurement practice reviews are conducted by highly qualified, multi-disciplinary teams. Team members possess a mix of skills, backgrounds, and experiences, such as government procurement, internal audit and review, business process mapping, and governance. In addition, the Office has its own legal counsel and can consult other experts as necessary.

The Office has a quality assurance and risk management system to ensure that quality is built into all of its processes, controls are in place to identify and respond to risks in a timely manner, responsibilities are clearly defined and communicated, and all staff participate in continuous improvement.

Finally, following each review, the Office seeks feedback from the departments involved. This information is then used to improve the quality of future procurement practice reviews.

How does the Procurement Ombudsman report on procurement practice reviews?

The Office works with departments to ensure that the information is accurate, and that any recommendations are balanced, useful and doable. Departments involved in a procurement practice review have an opportunity to provide comments and respond to any recommendations before reports are finalized.

Final reports are provided to the Deputy Heads and Ministers of the concerned departments by the Procurement Ombudsman. The reports are also posted on the Office's website, where they are accessible by other departments, agencies and stakeholders, as well as suppliers and the public.

In addition, the Procurement Ombudsman reports on the procurement practice review activities of the Office in the Annual Report. This Report is given to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services who shall, by law, table it in Parliament.