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'Worst program ever...'... that's quit the achievement 
The federal government repeatedly ignored key safeguards meant to ensure that legitimate Indigenous businesses would benefit from a multi-billion-dollar procurement program, a watchdog’s investigation has shown.
In a report made public Thursday, the Office of the Procurement Ombud said Indigenous Services Canada showed a “systemic disregard” for the principles behind the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB), repeatedly failed to verify companies awarded work were Indigenous-owned, and failed to keep track of how the decades-old program actually benefitted Indigenous businesses.
Instead, the department’s “fragmented” guidance, failure to conduct mandatory audits and failure to respond to other government agencies’ questions led the watchdog to conclude the federal government can’t “credibly” say that it is accomplishing a key target for economic reconciliation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.
“I would say this is the worst we have seen in terms of a systemic review. I don’t know that I could recall another situation where the actual rule set didn’t exist in its entirety,” said Procurement Ombud Alexander Jeglic, calling the government’s handling of the program “difficult to understand.”
globalnews.ca
The federal government repeatedly ignored key safeguards meant to ensure that legitimate Indigenous businesses would benefit from a multi-billion-dollar procurement program, a watchdog’s investigation has shown.
In a report made public Thursday, the Office of the Procurement Ombud said Indigenous Services Canada showed a “systemic disregard” for the principles behind the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB), repeatedly failed to verify companies awarded work were Indigenous-owned, and failed to keep track of how the decades-old program actually benefitted Indigenous businesses.
Instead, the department’s “fragmented” guidance, failure to conduct mandatory audits and failure to respond to other government agencies’ questions led the watchdog to conclude the federal government can’t “credibly” say that it is accomplishing a key target for economic reconciliation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.
“I would say this is the worst we have seen in terms of a systemic review. I don’t know that I could recall another situation where the actual rule set didn’t exist in its entirety,” said Procurement Ombud Alexander Jeglic, calling the government’s handling of the program “difficult to understand.”
Watchdog finds little oversight over multi-billion-dollar Indigenous procurement program - National | Globalnews.ca
Procurement watchdog’s probe says Canada can’t 'credibly demonstrate' that Indigenous businesses are benefitting from multi-billion dollar procurement program.
globalnews.ca
