A review of COVID-19 contracts approved by Health Canada showed more than one-tenth failed to follow the rules, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“Contracting resources were significantly impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic,” said Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic in a statement. .“Combined, the Department of Health and Public Health Agency of Canada awarded over 17,000 contracts worth an estimated $22 billion.”.Forty contracts were checked at random. .Jeglic reviewed the 40 contracts approved between 2020 and 2022. Of the 40, one was a contract limited to an email with an unknown number of suppliers to lease office space for masks. .Of the remaining 39, one file did show favouritism towards suppliers with a certain amount of experience and four had no documentation whatsoever. Jeglic called it “a shortcoming in Health Canada’s recordkeeping practices.”.“Without having the solicitation document, Health Canada cannot demonstrate it followed the proper procurement protocols and that its practices were fair, open and transparent,” he said..Of 34 contracts with proper documentation, he said two files showed it was unclear how bidders were to demonstrate they met mandatory criteria. Seven other files had poorly defined criteria. .Opposition MPs have sought a judicial inquiry into pandemic management, including favouritism in federal contracting..Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole told reporters in 2021 companies with Liberal lobbyists or close connections to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his inner circle “received preferential treatment in the awarding of contracts.”.“When the pandemic is over, we need answers,” said O’Toole. .“We need to know what worked and what didn’t.” .Cabinet said in a 2021 fiscal update deficit spending from the outbreak of the pandemic totalled $511.6 billion — much of it from rush orders with contractors. There was no real-time oversight of contracting by any parliamentary committee. .“You are thinking because of the pandemic everything goes,” said Charbonneau Commission deputy counsel Denis Gallant. .“An emergency must not become a pretext to circumvent binding government procurement rules.”.Liberal and Bloc Quebecois MPs on the House of Commons Ethics Committee rejected the idea of an investigation to COVID-19 contracts handed out to lobbyists in 2021. .READ MORE: Liberals, Bloc nix investigation into COVID contracts.The Liberals and Bloc Quebecois teamed up to defeat the Conservative motion by a 6-4 vote..“It would just be stirring the pot,” said Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, QC).
