Sunday, July 03, 2005

Audities

I suppose this will probably be Martin's next example of a successful step toward democratic reform:
A federal watchdog that's supposed to ensure the government follows the rules when it signs contracts for goods and services has itself been breaking those rules...

The latest improprieties are outlined in a newly released report into how Consulting and Audit Canada - the auditing service run by Public Works - tendered its own contracts...

The review found evidence of contract-splitting in half of the files studied...

The review - which included 102 additional contracts examined by the agency's own auditors - found numerous other problems, including date inconsistencies, inadequate bid evaluation reports, lack of security-clearance paperwork, and biased tendering.

Naturally, the usual strong action is being taken:
No disciplinary action has been taken against any employees, he said. However, procurement problems were raised "where warranted" during individual performance assessments.

Most impressively from the standpoint of sheer audacity, Public Works blocked the release of a draft version of the same report in March. From a political standpoint, that probably made sense at the time - but now that the truth is out, it's another compelling piece of evidence suggesting that the Martin government hasn't done a thing to encourage accountability.

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