Integrity in Federal Procurement
Context
Following the consultations aimed at identifying and addressing gaps and shortcomings in the existing Integrity Regime, there has been considerable public discussion around corporate wrongdoing, as well as the government’s responses to such misconduct. Expectations among media and industry stakeholders that enhancements to the Integrity Regime will be brought forward are expected to persist.
Note
Questions on Remediation Agreements should be directed to the Department of Justice.
Suggested Response
- The Government of Canada is committed to taking action against improper, unethical and illegal business practices and holding companies accountable for such misconduct.
- Effectively addressing corporate wrongdoing protects the integrity of markets, addresses barriers to economic growth and promotes competition to ensure job growth.
- To strengthen its approach and ensure it is working with ethical suppliers, the Government is considering enhancements to its Integrity Regime.
- The Government is seeking to strike the right balance between incentives for corporations to self-report wrongdoing and the promotion of stronger corporate compliance.
If pressed on when the enhanced Integrity Regime would be released:
- Following earlier consultations, there has been considerable public discussion around corporate wrongdoing, as well as the government’s responses to such misconduct.
- As a result, the Government of Canada is taking additional time to assess possible next steps regarding the Integrity Regime.
- In the interim, the current Ineligibility and Suspension Policy remains in effect.
Background
In recent years, the Government introduced measures to protect the integrity of its contracts, including the government-wide Integrity Regime, the Federal Contracting Fraud Tip Line, and increased oversight for the detection of bid-rigging. The Integrity Regime is designed to help ensure that the Government does business with ethical suppliers and incentivizes suppliers to ensure strong ethics and compliance frameworks. A supplier may be ineligible to do business with the Government if, in the previous three years it, or members of its board of directors, was charged with or convicted of one of the offences listed in the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy in Canada or abroad.
Under the current Regime, 3 companies have been declared ineligible to do business with the Government of Canada due to convictions (Hickey Construction Ltd., Les Entreprises Chatel Inc., and R.M. Belanger Limited). One company is subject to an administrative arrangement in lieu of suspension due to charges (SNC-Lavalin).
Public Consultations
A public consultation took place (September to December 2017) with suppliers, organizations and individuals to help Canada assess its tools for addressing corporate wrongdoing. During this consultation, government officials held over 40 meetings attended by more than 300 participants. We also received 75 written submissions. Of those 75 submissions, 45 were received with respect to introducing a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) regime (also known as remediation agreements) in Canada and 30 were received with respect to enhancements to the Integrity Regime.
A second public consultation on the practical application and requirements of a proposed draft of the Integrity Regime’s Ineligibility and Suspension Policy was held from October 11 to November 13, 2018. Participation in this second consultation was generally low with only 3 formal submissions being received. All of the submissions were from professional or industry associations with no participation from individual companies.
The department did not request input from any specific individual, supplier, association or organization during either consultation. The consultations were open to the public and any interested stakeholders were able to participate.
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