Shahid minto - Summit Magazine

Publisher’s Profile
Federal procurement ombudsman –
an office making a difference
An interview with
Shahid
Minto
by Kevin McGuinness
6 Summit September/October 2010
The Office of the Federal Procurement
Ombudsman was created following the
implementation of the Federal Accountability
Act. Shahid Minto was appointed as the first
such ombudsman in May 2008, after serving
28 years with the Auditor General of Canada,
followed by service as the first Chief Risk Officer
in Public Works and Government Services
Canada (PWGSC). With this experience, a law
degree and a CA qualification, his credentials
would be difficult to match. Sadly, from the
perspective of those who are committed
to enhancing professionalism in Canadian
government procurement, Minto retired in July
2010. Until a new ombudsman is appointed,
Deputy Procurement Ombudsman Oriana
Trombetti is in charge of the office. When
I bumped into him at this year’s annual
Purchasing Management Association of Canada
conference he agreed to an interview.
U
nder the Department of Public Works and Government
Services Act, the Federal Procurement Ombudsman
is required to review procurement practice at federal
departments to assess their fairness, openness and transparency and to recommend improvements to those practices;
review complaints respecting the award of any contract
below the Agreement on Internal Trade threshold amount;
review complaints respecting the administration of a contract for the acquisition of materiel or services; and finally,
ensure the availability of an alternative dispute
resolution process.
Minto pulls his various responsibilities together in one
theme: “Improving communication and strengthening an
ethical environment would strengthen Canadians’ confidence in federal procurement. Our business model is less
about just following the rules and much more about doing
the right thing. Procurement decisions should always take
ethical considerations into account. The real question is
not just what minimum actions government officials must
take to meet a narrowly defined policy or legal requirement,
but how those actions ensure that the principles of fairness,
openness and transparency are upheld.”
The ombudsman’s mandate includes all phases in the
procurement life cycle, from defining the requirements or
specifications, through developing a procurement strategy,
soliciting and evaluating proposals, the award of the contract, its administration, and its closing out. Globally, the
basic objective of the office is to strengthen Canadians’ confidence in federal procurement. “Parliament gave the office a
clear and focused mandate,” Minto observes.
The overall approach under Minto’s administration has
been to build trust and confidence among all the stakeholders in public procurement. Doing so, is a two-way street, and
as a result of this process of dialogue the process has been
much smoother going than some might have expected when
his office came into being. In the view of many observers,
this is very much attributable to the man and his approach.
He notes that, “The feedback we have received from all
stakeholders confirms that our dedicated staff is professional, knowledgeable in procurement and impartial; the
recommendations we make are reasonable, well thought out,
affordable and practical. Informal inquiries indicate that
stakeholders have found our interventions to be very helpful
and significant actions have already been taken on recommendations we have made to departments and agencies.”
We turned our discussion to the difficulties encountered
in creating a new government entity. He explains that it was
literally necessary to build it from scratch. “When I began, it
was just me and a summer student. Now the office has a fulltime staff of 24 professionals. Yet, it remains nimble.”
Minto considers the process of creating and shaping the
ombudsman’s office during its early days to be one of the
things that he is most proud of. He points out that his office
is now consulted by other countries, who are interested in
improving the accountability and transparency of their own
procurement systems.
Reaching this point was far from easy. The office came
into being in the shadow of the Gomery inquiry. Despite the
media criticism focused on federal procurement at that time,
Minto points out that the vast majority of people engaged
in public procurement in the federal government are hard
working, dedicated public servants, who must often carry a
heavy file load. He feels that the media focuses too much on
isolated scandals. This constant criticism undermines morale
and the confidence of Canadians in public procurement.
Low morale was a serious problem he discovered while setting up the ombudsman’s office. “Many of federal procurement people were reeling,” he observed, “yet at the same
time we found a system that has a lot of highly competent
professionals and solid achievements of which it should
be proud.”
He sees problems with the federal procurement process as
largely the inevitable result of volume, inadequate training
and too many rules. “The federal government spends about
$14 billion annually on good and services under 340,000
contracts. The sheer number of contracts makes disputes
inevitable. It is in everybody’s interest to resolve disputes
quickly and preserve the working relationship.”
Minto and his team have chosen to implement a business
model that focuses on a collaborative approach to ensure
September/October 2010 Summit
7
efficient and timely resolution of issues between the governcontracts, and other details of the solicitation, evaluation
ment and suppliers.
and contract award process. We went on to discuss how
“Our commitment has been to be part of the solution. We
many of these problems stem from the plethora of rules that
seek resolution of individual concerns to the satisfaction of all
surround the public procurement process.
involved; and to make balanced and useful recommendations
Minto had this to say: “I think that the time that it takes
to strengthen the fairness, openness and transparency of govto carry out a procurement project is one area where there
ernment procurement. We follow a collegial and cooperative
is great room for improvement. Both the public service and
approach with suppliers, departments and agencies, as well as
suppliers find it frustrating. The procurement process should
parliamentarians who of course play the ultimate oversight role.”
support the delivery of government services. However, in
This approach has paid dividends in terms of voluntary
practice, it often tends to become an impediment to efficient
compliance. “Deputy ministers in all departments have proservice delivery. This forces managers to try to work around
vided us with key contacts in their organizations, and we have
the system rather than within it. Suppliers complain about
developed good working relationships with them. Our collegial
the complexity and the length of the process.”
approach to procurement disputes has been very well received,
Nevertheless, he observes, a proper process is essential.
and the results are impressive. Most of the complaints brought
He refers to a passage from the Bellamy Report on Toronto’s
to us have been resolved without our resorting to detailed
computer leasing inquiry: “It is widely recognized that pubinvestigations, saving time and effort on the part of both suplic officials have a greater responsibility to uphold ethical
pliers and government officials.”
standards to protect the public interest. …“In surveying the
He is happy with the contributions that his office has
literature and research on procurement, it quickly becomes
made to federal procurement, and (while recognizing that
evident that a primary focus of professional attention is on
improvements can still be made) is generally very supportive
policies, procedures, directives, guidelines, techniques, best
of the efforts of the public servants involved in the procurepractices, etc. However, procurement is about more than the
ment process:
technical components. Almost universally, experts offered
“Our public service does a lot of things really well. We
the view that ethics-related values and principles are the
don’t give them enough credit for the positive contribution
essential foundation of public sector procurement in leading
that they make to Canadian life.”
jurisdictions.”
Encouraged by parliamentarians to pursue a broad
Another recurring problem that the ombudsman has
agenda, the ombudsman has intervened successfully in a wide
noted has been one of incomplete file documentation. Poor
range of procurement areas, with
file keeping contravenes the
the result that the ombudsman’s
requirements of the Treasury
“Our public service does a lot of things
office has quickly developed a
Board Contracting Policy, the
reputation as a benchmark entity
North American Free Trade
really well. We don’t give them enough
in the procurement field. The
Agreement and departmental
credit for the positive contribution that
timeliness of their efforts has
operations manuals. Minto
helped the office develop crednotes that “These impede the
they make to Canadian life.” – Shahid Minto
ibility both within government
transparency of the federal govand with suppliers. He requires
ernment procurement processes.
all queries to be responded to
In some cases, lack of documenwithin 24 hours, and within 48 hours after that there must
tation has resulted in unfavourable consequences in both
be a substantial response. The goal is to get matters resolved
tribunals and courts when government decisions were chalwithin a 10 to 12 day time-frame.
lenged. In fact, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal
Further credibility has been built through a proactive
has held that ‘maintenance of complete documentation for
approach. Minto explains: “Our office continues to deliver
each procurement is essential to preserving the integrity and
on its promise to maintain an active outreach program. We
transparency of the procurement system’.”
made presentations on the activities of our office to suppliers
Although poor file keeping may be the result of work priand public servants across the country on more than 30 occaorities and volume, Minto observes that “It has been evident
sions. We also hosted international delegations from Kenya,
to us during our work, a poorly documented file results in a
China and the Ukraine.”
totally unnecessary but significantly increased workload for
While much has been done, much more work remains.
both the procurement officials and those involved in overOver Minto’s tenure, the office has received a steadily growsight functions.”
ing number of inquiries from suppliers. Not all are comMinto suggests that proper file administration should be
plaints. The majority of inquiries are only questions about
made a performance objective in annual job performance
procurement-related issues. Initially, many suppliers inquired
evaluations, with appropriate recognition or consequences
regarding the award of a contract. Now, many suppliers are
for success or failure to achieve results.
bringing more complex issues to the ombudsman’s attention,
Another recurring problem he identifies relates to poor
relating to questions of fairness, openness and transparency
communication between the government and the supplier
in the procurement process. For example, they are asking
community. “We were repeatedly told by supplier associaquestions about the suitability of time-lines for bidding for
tions, and even some Members of Parliament, that the gov-
8 Summit September/October 2010
ernment does a lot of consultation where public servants are
hearing but not listening. Furthermore, we were informed by
individual suppliers of many instances of misunderstandings
and miscommunication during their dealings with procurement officials. There is a cost to both parties when there is
poor communication and a lack of respect, real or perceived,
intended or unintended.
In many of the complaints made to the office by suppliers, the government’s first response has been denial of either
the existence of a problem or any responsibility for it. While
we understand the need to minimize legal liability, unnecessary denial leads to delays, unnecessary costs and a breakdown of trust between the government and its suppliers. Just
as procurement officers expect to be treated with respect,
suppliers too are mature partners in the supply management
team and should be treated with the same respect.”
Poor communications negatively affect relations between
the government and its suppliers. Insufficient attention to
communication increases the stress on the procurement process. Both supplier and government staff aggravation could
be avoided by better communications between the government and the supplier community.
Our discussion turned to where Minto sees the office
heading in the immediate future. One area of interest is with
respect to the use of the various electronic tools that have been
incorporated into federal procurement over the last few years,
such as PS Online. These have been adopted in the hope of
enhancing efficiency. He sees it as prudent to evaluate their
success, not just to hunt for possible problems, but more to
see how the process can be further strengthened. Another area
which merits some further review is construction, particularly
with the large investment in infrastructure over the past year.
Recent work in improving the design of government contracts
may be responsible for the relatively low number of complaints
relating to these projects. He suggests that it would be a good
idea to check into why things have worked so well – to identify the good practices that have worked, so that they can be
exported to other areas.
Retirement will allow Minto the opportunity to pursue
a lot of interests that have been on the back-burner for some
time. And, of course, there is the benefit of being able to
spend more time with his family, “particularly the grand
kids.” However, it seems unlikely that he will be able to
retire completely: “My career in the public service has provided me with an opportunity to interact with Canadians
from all parts of the country and to understand and appreciate the great multilingual and multicultural society we
live in. My career has allowed me to visit more of the country than most Canadians ever see. Working in government
has given me a tremendous insight into the real workings of
government. I have a real interest in putting back something
into the system, particularly in working with developing
countries.”
Kevin McGuinness recently retired from the Ontario Attorney General Office.
In addition to his legal work he is a noted author and has co-authored several
books on procurement and leadership with Stephen Bauld, publisher of
Summit magazine.
September/October 2010 Summit
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