Communications and Corporate Management
"Your presentation was real, ethical and poetic. I sincerely thank you for your time."
– Mathieu Louis-Seize, Procurement Officer, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Communications
The Communications and Corporate Management (CCM) team strives to ensure our stakeholders know that we exist and are aware of the services we provide. This year, we maintained an active outreach program organizing over 30 speaking engagements and meetings for representatives of this office. These presentations outlined the activities during our first year of operation and highlighted our success in resolving procurement disputes through informal, collaborative intervention.
Text description of this Communications and Corporate Management team is available on a separate page.
In line with our commitment to maintaining a balanced and neutral perspective, we focussed our outreach on both government and supplier communities. We met with national procurement associations, industry associations, other ombudsman offices and regional offices of government departments to discuss areas of mutual interest.
In other countries, there is a high degree of interest in the concept of an Ombudsman for Procurement, especially where significant corruption in government procurement has been identified. Many foreign countries are trying to create procurement oversight bodies and for that reason have a particular interest in the nature of our Office. We hosted international delegations from Kenya, the Ukraine and China. Representatives from these countries took special notice of the fact that we operate under a legislated mandate and have an arms-length relationship from program departments. All of the representatives expressed sincere appreciation for our willingness to share ideas and experiences that may be valuable to them.
Hosting delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Supervision
Text description of this delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Supervision is available on a separate page.
Our outreach program also includes written media such as our corporate brochure and annual report. On occasion, we also produce articles for specialized magazines. For example, Optimum Online – The Journal of Public Sector Management – invited us to submit an article for their special issue on Ombudsing in September 2009. This article provided background information about federal procurement, described the Office's unique mandate and summarized how we have gained the trust of stakeholders. The Ombudsman also reflected on the future of the Office.
We sent copies of our first Annual Report to all Members of Parliament and Senators. Subsequently on December 1, 2009, the Procurement Ombudsman appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. It is clear from the discussions that Parliamentarians had read our report and had a genuine interest in the results of our work.
Visit from the Procurement Oversight Authority, Government of Kenya
Text description of the visit from the Procurement Oversight Authority, Government of Kenya is available on a separate page.
Other stakeholders also showed interest in our work, as statistics from our Web site indicate that there was an increase of 80% in the number of people accessing the site after the 2008-2009 Annual Report was released.
The CCM team is responsible for ensuring our Web site is user-friendly and current. Our Web site provides all our stakeholders access to our services and information about our activities.
Corporate Management
Our case management system was implemented in 2009-2010. This system is a powerful database that will help us identify themes and trends such as which supplier groups have the most concerns, as well as the nature of those concerns. This kind of information will help us decide where to focus our work and resources to achieve optimum results in specific areas of importance.
In last year's Annual Report, two milestones were identified for the Program Evaluation Framework:
- A formative evaluation to measure the extent to which the Office's program has been implemented and to ensure that the Office is proceeding according to its mandate and expectations. This will be carried out in 2010-2011.
- A summative evaluation to measure the extent to which the Office has achieved its intended objectives, results and outcomes. This will be carried out in 2013-2014.
The time lines for the formative evaluation were adjusted because 2008-2009 was not a full year of operations. The formative evaluation will be aligned with the performance commitments outlined in the Report on Plans and Priorities for 2009-2010.
Stakeholders will be consulted as part of these evaluations in an effort to ensure that our services remain relevant, efficient and accountable. As a result of carrying out these evaluations, we will have a clearer understanding of results achieved and a strong basis for any realignment of business operations.
The CCM team contributes to OPO's overall goal to improve fairness, openness and transparency by ensuring that all messages distributed are balanced, neutral and respectful.
The Procurement Ombudsman would like to thank all the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman staff for their dedication and support. The success of the Office is largely due to their professionalism, knowledge and hard work.
In the picture, from left to right:
Gilles Pineau, Paul Morse, Oriana Trombetti, Amy Dubeau, Lisa Teed, Janet LaBelle, Janet Barrington, Jean Carruthers, Clifford Dunning, Carole Vautour and Isabelle Deslandes.
Arthur Miskew, Shahid Minto, Françine Brisebois, Michael Senzilet, Linda Francis, Michel Fréchette, Caroline Villeneuve, Lisa Saruwatari, Daniel Fortin, Paapa Abekah and Suleiman Rana
Text description of the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman staff is available on a separate page.
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