Evidence of meeting #32 for Public Accounts in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was contract.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Presuming the whole world were to agree that the contract was carried out improperly by the previous government, what could be done, conceivably? What could actually happen? What can you suggest?
If the contract were cancelled, would the government then face litigation from Royal LePage? What costs—
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
I can't answer that. We obviously haven't done the analysis. I presume the government has probably done that analysis of the different options. The contract was re-tendered already once, based on allegations and conflict of interest.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
But at that point when it was re-tendered, was Royal LePage actually in the process of carrying out work already?
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
The contract had been awarded, I believe, and yes, the contract was under way. The contract was cancelled and re-tendered.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
So Royal LePage was actually carrying out the work specified in the contract when it was cancelled and re-tendered.
Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Mr. Sloan is just telling me that in fact they continued to provide the services until the new contract was signed.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
All right. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Sweet.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Mr. Goodfellow, you mentioned that you had designed the RFP. What aspect of the RFP did you actually assess?
Manager, Project Delivery Services Division, Public Works and Government Services Canada
I was present during the technical evaluations, and I performed the financial evaluations and did the method of selection results to determine the winning—
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
So you were the singular person on the financial aspect.
Manager, Project Delivery Services Division, Public Works and Government Services Canada
Yes, sir, and—
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
That's fine.
There were 289 questions asked and 287 answered, Mr. Bennett, and amazingly, the only two that were unanswered drilled down to the key elements of the discrepancy of this RFP. Does that surprise you at all?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions, Public Works and Government Services Canada
There were 289 questions answered. The problem was, I think, with the answers to those two questions. It wasn't that those two questions went unanswered.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
So you answered 289 questions. On these two that were asked, what was the answer? Considering that the Auditor General was able to find out the exact number of—
December 7th, 2006 / 5:20 p.m.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions, Public Works and Government Services Canada
The answer was that the information contained in the RFP, after verification with the departments involved, was the best information that was available.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Did the minister at the time sign off on this contract? After the RFP is tendered, is this something that is analyzed by the deputy minister as well as the political minister?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions, Public Works and Government Services Canada
Yes.
Conservative
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions, Public Works and Government Services Canada
Yes, and it would have gone to the Treasury Board.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
And it would have gone to the Treasury Board Secretariat after that.
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions, Public Works and Government Services Canada
Correct.
Conservative
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
The employee or employees in question--with the impropriety of the original contract, were any of those individuals involved in the second RFP?
Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions, Public Works and Government Services Canada
As I said, none of them. It was a completely new team. That's when Mr. Goodfellow took on his responsibilities. He was not part of the second team for the 2002 contract. It was completely new.
Conservative
John Williams Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
To the gentleman from the RCMP, unfortunately your institution has been in the news, and not in a very favourable light, of late. However, I'm looking at paragraph 5.92, dealing with the reimbursement of expenses, which says:
However, when actual documentation is finally received by the RCMP, it uses only a limited, informal, risk-based audit approach to verify relocation expenses.
Conservative
