PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6 |
Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
Public Accounts Committee: Public Works must re-tender relocations contracts after 2009
Ottawa, May 29, 2007 -
Unfair bid evaluation practices and instances of improper charging led the Public Accounts Committee to recommend in its 15th report, tabled today in the House of Commons, that existing contracts for services to re-locate members of the public service, RCMP and armed forces not be extended after they expire in 2009.
Every year, thousands of Canadian Forces personnel, members of the RCMP, and federal public services and their families are assisted in work-related moves by the government’s Integrated Relocations Program. In 2005, this Program cost Canadian taxpayers approximately $272 million.
Contracts for the administration of the Program had been awarded through competitive tender to Royal LePage Relocations Services. In 2002, in the face of charges of conflict of interest, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) re-tendered the contracts. Royal LePage Relocations Services was again the winner, but a losing bidder challenged this outcome. The Auditor General of Canada audited the contracting process and determined that the process was unfair because of incorrect information provided to bidders. She also found that Canadian Forces members had been improperly charged between $800 and $8000 for services that should have been provided free of charge.
The Committee concluded that when the contracts for the Program expire in 2009, they should be re-tendered and not extended. It recommended that lessons learned from the Auditor General’s audit should be incorporated in the tendering process and that Canadian Forces members be fully and promptly compensated for improper charges levied against them.
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