Government Operations committee  I understand you very well, I am bilingual. It's just that if you want to have a spontaneous conversation, I have to go back to the language I have the facility to have a spontaneous conversation in.

Government Operations committee  Let me come back to the issue. Our purpose in life, really, is to help people get their business, to help them solve their issues over here. We are not here to ensure that any particular person gets a contract. We are here to ensure that the contracts are awarded in a fair, open

Government Operations committee  I'm a little surprised that you would think the government is fostering a policy of going for sole-source. I think the foundation of government procurement is equal access to all Canadians. If there are exceptions to that, we would be interested in hearing about it. If somebody c

Government Operations committee  Certainly in the last few years the Department of Public Works has shifted its business model from having hundreds and hundreds of standing offers to having either regional master standing offers or national standing offers for repetitive types of business--buying desks, light bu

Government Operations committee  As I was just explaining, Madame, the previous contracts that have already gone were prior to May. They're gone.

Government Operations committee  The contracts award would not be under our purview because the AIT has an exemption. But in our practice reviews, we would have the opportunity to look at how departments develop these contracts.

Government Operations committee  Really, I don't mean to complicate your life here, but remember you're talking about a lease, and as defined by the government, this is the hole in the bucket, I think. As defined by the government, a lease is more procurement that I can look at. I understand. This person's only

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, I don't mean to be argumentative here, but we have to remember that the specific example you gave me dealt with leasing, and I answered it for the leasing thing. But if the same constituent had a problem supplying desks for $66,000, or chairs, or some good or other s

Government Operations committee  No, what I said is if it's for services under $100,000, we would. If it's for goods under $25,000, we would. If it's over $25,000, it goes to the CITT. That's the law you passed. The Federal Accountability Act clearly stipulates that. My job is to implement that law, not to quest

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Madam, I have been involved myself in reviewing some of those, from the sponsorship, for example. Let me just say that my mandate relating to the award of the contracts is linked to the AIT, the Agreement on Internal Trade. One of the exemptions in that is for advertising, so if

Government Operations committee  There are very many. This data is available at Public Works. I don't keep the data. They are the owners of that data, they manage that data, and that's the department you should get the data from. If you want, on behalf of the committee I could contact them to see what I can get,

Government Operations committee  I fully appreciate your reasons for doing that and your need for it, but it's really an operational manager's responsibility to create and maintain that database, not mine. If you want, I could contact Public Works and pass the request on to them.

Government Operations committee  Madam Chair, two points need clarification here. One is, we have to remember that Public Works is the contracting arm of the government. The procurement process is much bigger than just contracting. The procurement process starts up front when somebody has a need for something

Government Operations committee  Here, the dollar limitations would kick in. If it's over $100,000 for services or if it's over $25,000 for goods, you go to the CITT if you have a problem with the award of the contract. If you have a problem when the contract has already been awarded.... I'll give you an examp