We Are Here To Help

Federal procurement can be complex. The framework governing procurement comprises more than 15 acts of Parliament and numerous regulations and policies. To adhere to this framework, federal departments and agencies have established procurement processes and procedures. These processes and procedures, and their associated requirements, can appear to be daunting to suppliers wanting to obtain their first contract with the federal government. They can also challenge suppliers that  have experience doing business with the federal government.

And doing business with the federal government is big business. The size and scale of federal procurement is significant. It is an approximately $20 billion-a-year field driven by the needs of more than a hundred federal organizations, resulting in hundreds of thousands of contracts with thousands of suppliers. The vast majority of the volume of these contracts, roughly 90%, are for low dollar value contracts; contracts, that is, less than $25K for goods and $100K for services, which for any given year can total approximately $1B.

Prior to the creation of the Office, suppliers of these low dollar value contracts had limited options when issues arose with federal departments and agencies. They could negotiate directly with the department with which they had a conflict, commence a potentially lengthy and costly litigation process or simply accept the issue. And when these problems re-occurred, there was no dedicated independent body to determine if systemic procurement issues existed.

The Office of the Procurement Ombudsman (OPO / the Office) was created to provide an avenue for suppliers and other stakeholders – federal government departments and agencies, and parliamentarians – to have procurement-related concerns addressed. OPO helps all stakeholders better understand the federal procurement system and assists suppliers in resolving procurement-related disputes with departments and agencies.  In doing so, the Office works with the federal procurement community to identify ways to improve fairness, openness and transparency, and share effective procurement practices.

OPO is neither a lobbyist for suppliers nor an apologist for government departments and agencies. The Office is in a unique position to encourage open communication and the sharing of effective practices among all stakeholders involved in procurement. Operating in the fashion of a true ombudsman, the Office's motto is simple: "We are here to help." While the Office's regulatory mandate is very specific regarding the nature and types of issues OPO is permitted to examine, each of the Office's staff is committed to ensuring that everyone who contacts the Office receives personalized service and prompt responses to questions raised.

Legislative Mandate

Transparency and integrity in procurement are key priorities in the Government's accountability agenda. Accordingly, the Federal Accountability Act (2006) and Federal Accountability Action Plancontained a number of measures to enhance trust in the institutions and practices of government. One of these measures was the creation of a Procurement Ombudsman to act as a neutral and objective authority on matters of federal procurement.

Mission and Strategic Objectives

OPO's mission and strategic objectives have been formulated to enable the Office to achieve its mandate and provide services to stakeholders.

OPO's mission is clear: to promote fairness, openness and transparency in federal procurement. All of the Office's activities are carried out with this mission in mind.

Strategy - The Three Pillars

To achieve its mission, OPO's strategic objectives focus on three areas:

1. Raising awareness of procurement issues and exchanging information through education;
2. De-escalating potential disputes and helping resolve issues whenever possible through facilitation; and
3. Reviewing of procurement issues through investigation.

These three strategic pillars are the corner-stones of the Office's interactions with stakeholders, and they act as guides for staff contacted by suppliers, federal departments and agencies, and others interested in federal procurement.

Profile of Contacts

One of the Office's primary functions is to respond to inquiries from stakeholders seeking to better understand federal procurement, or suppliers wishing to discuss concerns with a particular department or procurement process. Responding to these contacts in a helpful and timely manner is a priority for the Office.

During the past year, OPO recorded 331 contacts by telephone, e-mail or fax. The number of contacts has remained relatively stable over the Office's four years of operations, fluctuating between a low of 329 contacts in 2010-11 and a high of 386 in 2009-10. It should be noted the total number of contacts reported in 2009-10 (519) included unsolicited sales and marketing contacts, which are no longer tracked in OPO's database.

Of the 331 contacts with the Office, 204 (62%) were procurement-related while 127 (38%) touched on issues unrelated to the Office's legislative mandate (e.g. questions regarding pensions, taxation and other matters). Guided by the Office's motto "We are here to help," in all instances OPO staff strive to provide quick and useful information to everyone who contacts the Office.

The distribution between procurement and non-procurement-related contacts is consistent with past years, as the percentage of procurement-related calls has remained in the range of 62% to 75%. In addition to the 331 contacts, OPO staff participated in numerous conferences and events and had multiple meetings with stakeholders to answer procurement questions and discuss concerns.

The following three sections elaborate on the nature of the 204 procurement-related contacts using OPO's three strategic objectives of Educate, Facilitate and Investigate.

Date modified:

2018-11-01