Liberal and NDP MPs were also highly critical on Tuesday of a major change in the request for bids on the contract that switches contracting authority from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, which was not involved in controversial F-35 decisions, to an official in Public Works, which was singled out for breaking procurement rules in Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s scathing report on $25-billion in projected F-35 costs last April.
The new request for bids Public Works quietly published earlier this month on the government tendering site Merx postpones a final report from whoever wins the contract to oversee F-35 costing estimates being prepared by the Department of National Defence to Nov. 27 from Oct. 24, virtually guaranteeing that Parliament will not have an opportunity to conduct committee study on the report before the Dec. 14 recess for Christmas and a winter recess of nearly two months.
In response to Mr. Ferguson’s report, the government promised to perform and independent review of the costs. Public Works has explained it posted the new request for bids from accounting firms, to ease some of the technical requirements for prospective bidders.
But opposition MPs criticized the government on Tuesday for the delay, and the switch of contracting authority to Public Works from Treasury Board Secretariat, which oversees and sets the rules for all government spending practices on behalf of the Treasury Board committee of cabinet.
Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose (Edmonton-Spruce Grove, Alta.) and her department emphasized the third-party involvement of Treasury Board when she announced a new secretariat to oversee the F-35 project last June, after Mr. Ferguson accused DND and the government of withholding $10-billion worth of F-35 costs in a report to Parliament prior to the May 2, 2011, federal election.
Mr. Ferguson singled out Public Works for criticism because the department, which is responsible for the F-35 procurement, accepted a one-page letter from DND as evidence the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter was the only aircraft that could meet Canada’s needs as National Defence replaces its fleet of aging F-18 Hornet fighter jets.
“It seems very suspect,” NDP MP Malcolm Allen (Welland, Ont.) said of the delay in the report to Parliament. “They get the report basically at the end of November, which means they’ll take some time to look at it, review it, obviously it’s got to go to the minister through the department. That won’t happen in a day.”
Mr. Allen said the government will likely “dump” the report on the last sitting day. “[The government willl] say, ‘Well, we tabled it in Parliament, see you later.’ Basically there’s no one there to hold the government to account on the actual report,” he said.
Mr. Allen waged a filibuster on the Commons Public Accounts Committee for a month before the House recessed for the summer to prevent the Conservative majority on the committee from shutting down an inquiry into Mr. Ferguson’s audit report on the F-35 project.
The NDP MP said he is also concerned about the government’s decision to make Public Works the contracting authority for the coming audit of F-35 costs, since it was at the centre of the controversy last April. The original June request for bids posted by Public Works listed Mario Beaulne, chief of contract procurement and material management at the Treasury Board Secretariat, as the contracting authority. The new request for bids lists a supply team leader from Public Works.
“Treasury Board Secretariat actually are the ones who write the rules for all the departments to follow when it comes to how they spend money,” Mr. Allen said. “I would prefer that the Treasury Board Secretariat be the arm’s length one doing the contract, because Public Works is now overseeing what it does [itself]. … You need to have folks who were at arms length of all of this. You’ve got folks who will ostensibly be looking into their own actions. If you want to build any credibility around this whole thing, I’m not sure at this point how they’re going to do that.”
Liberal MP John McKay (Scarborough-Guildwood, Ont.) agreed the delay will hinder Parliamentary scrutiny of the estimates, and also said Treasury Board should have authority over the contract.
“Clearly, in the wrestling match about who’s going to be running this secretariat, the Public Works folks have won and are sidelining the Treasury Board Secretariat,” Mr. McKay said. “It’s the Treasury Board Secretariat in name only. In fact it’s Public Works that’s running this.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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