January 7, 2016
Manitoba Government Accepts Recommendations of Manitoba Ombudsman on Government Procurement
The Manitoba government accepts all recommendations made by the Manitoba Ombudsman in its report concerning the procurement of flood-protection equipment, government house leader Dave Chomiak announced today.
“While this report finds that legislation and policies were followed, we feel that acting on the recommendations made by the Manitoba Ombudsman will strengthen transparency and accountability when it comes to government procurement,” said Chomiak. “In fact, we have already completed or started to act on 100 per cent of the recommendations.”
The Manitoba government asked the ombudsman to examine the process followed to procure flood-fighting equipment for the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council. The ombudsman’s office was provided with hundreds of pages of documentation and conducted interviews with stakeholders and civil servants.
Recommendations made by the ombudsman include:
- clarifying policy so that departments receive adequate guidelines for working with external partners;
- developing requests for proposals and declaring any potential conflicts of interest;
- clarifying the role of the Procurement Services Branch (PSB); and
- ensuring written policy sets expectation for when departments should consult PSB in the procurement process.
“We thank the ombudsman for all her work on this file,” said Chomiak. “Her recommendations will help us improve the processes used for procurement, particularly in complex situations like flood fighting with many players and moving parts, so we can better serve Manitobans.”
The Report on Flood-Fighting Equipment for the Interlake Emergency Operations Centre: The Tiger Dams Proposalis on the Manitoba Ombudsman’s website at www.ombudsman.mb.ca/uploads/document/files/ombudsman-report-on-flood-fighting-equipment-en.pdf.
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