As Mr. Guimont has just outlined, the government policy is for the competitive sourcing of all solicitations, but there are exceptions as noted. The role of Public Works is to work with the client department in making sure that the justification and rationale for an exception to the government contracting regulations is fully justified. The client department must provide that rationale as to why they are seeking an exemption. In fact, there is quite an extensive checklist in our Treasury Board guidelines that must be filled out. The Department of Public Works works with the client department to make sure this justification is extensive, is on file, is available, and can support the rationale for justifying that only one supplier can do the work. That was all done in this particular case.
On May 1st, 2012. See this statement in context.