The Canadian procurement ombudsman announced that the Public Works and Government Services used standing offers to hand out $1.5 billion in contracts without "reliable data" to monitor if they are awarded fairly, misused or even abused. Standing offers are a key buying tool for government procurement where departments can buy, on demand, from a list of pre-approved suppliers who have offered pre-determined prices or discount. In a review of standing offers, Public Works couldn't match 30 per cent of the contracts issued under 10 mandatory standing offers, between 2005 and 2008, to a standing offer. The government has a large number of standing offers, some of which are national, regional or some that are only available for certain departments. They vary in structure, terms, conditions and even the length of time they are in force. The Canadian government made standing offers mandatory in 2005 for 10 of the most commonly purchased goods and services in government, including vehicles, fuel, office supplies and professional services. The introduction was supposed to help drive down costs, but small and medium-sized business protested standing offers, saying that it shut them out of government purchasing.
Follow me on Twitter
Comments