News that’s guaranteed to cheer the hearts of a small number of B.C. companies is word that they’ve been added to a list of pre-qualified suppliers to the B.C. government.
The lists are intended to offer all the appearances of open and transparent procurement. They can be anything but. It’s one way to get around the bad optics of sole-sourcing too many public contracts. You can imagine the minister’s briefing note: “We chose from a long list of well-qualified firms who were put through a rigorous vetting process by the ministry.”
Two wrinkles: what companies are on those lists and what criteria is used to pre-qualify them? Like a private club, the government is reticent to disclose the names, which makes it difficult to know whether there’s a wee bit of favouritism in compiling them, how other companies stack up and whether B.C. is getting best value for its dollar.
You’d expect to find pre-qualified lists in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) for road improvements, potholes and the like. In 2014/15, MOTI awarded 478 contracts of $10,000 or more worth $322.1 million. Forty-eight companies took home 163 of the contracts totalling $233.8 million, nearly three quarters of the haul.
Coincidentally, those 48 companies have donated $1.17 million to the B.C. Liberal Party since 2005. One company was awarded 16 contracts worth $7.9 million. They donated $111,000. The 25 largest contracts – ringing in at more than $168 million – went exclusively to 13 donors who have collectively given more than $250,000.
How many of the 48 are on a pre-qualified list is anyone’s guess. Hush hush.
Don’t think donations are intended to influence decision makers? Think again.
Everything may be on the up and up in B.C. At least that’s what Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman says. Last spring Coleman stated: “If you want to donate to a political party, you can donate to a political party. But if you think you’re buying anything, you’re not.”
Martyn Brown, former chief of staff to Premier Gordon Campbell begged to differ: “(Donations) make the government stand up and listen, and anybody who pretends otherwise is not telling the truth.”
It certainly doesn’t instill confidence in the government’s procurement efforts when the 2014 core review into Partnerships B.C. noted: “More than half of the contract files reviewed did not contain adequate documentation such as the justification for hiring the successful contractor, the reasons for direct awarding contracts to individuals and small firms or the rates paid.”
-Dermod Travis is the executive director of Integrity B.C.
