Audits of Competitive Procurement Process; Benefits Processing Long Term Disability; and Grants and Contributions

Auditor General’s Audit of the Competitive Procurement Process and Audit of Benefits Processing – Long-Term Disability (LTD) Both Identified Process Efficiencies and the Audit of Grants and Contributions Found Opportunities for Potential Administrative Savings

Ottawa – Today, Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon tabled the Audit of the Competitive Procurement
Process. The City of Ottawa spends approximately $1 billion a year on a wide variety of goods, services,
and construction. In 2019 and 2020 over 80% of the contracts were awarded using a competitive
solicitation process. There are six different types of solicitation used – both formal and informal. The
audit found that the City’s competitive procurement process generally adheres to the principles of
openness, fairness, and is conducted in accordance with the City’s Procurement Bylaw and related
regulatory requirements. Among the findings were that improvements can be made in: determining the
type and nature of specifications used in procurements, and how sustainability requirements are
incorporated in the procurement process. There are four recommendations and management agreed
with all of them.

The Audit of Benefits Processing – Long-Term Disability (LTD) was also tabled. At the end of 2019 there
were 666 employees were on LTD at an annual cost of $27.7 M to the City. The audit concluded that,
overall, the City’s management of the LTD Benefits program is adequate. It also found that, in general,
the process in place for initiating and managing LTD claims and facilitating the return to work was
followed and that activities were conducted in accordance with established policies, procedures, and
service standards. There are four recommendations and management agreed with all of them.
“While both these audits found general compliance with policies and procedures, there is always an
opportunity to be more effective and efficient,” said Mme Gougeon. “We made a number of
recommendations that will assist in achieving this.”

The Audit of Grants and Contributions (G&C) found that in 2019 the City awarded $64.9 M to 806
recipients through 49 programs. The two largest programs were the Renewable Community Funding
program - $23.5 M and the Housing and Homelessness Investment Plan - $13.6 M. While the audit
revealed that the funding departments generally adhere to the City’s policies and procedures it also
demonstrated opportunities to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the administrative processes,
including:

• Enhancing monitoring requirements
• Increasing collaboration amongst departments
• Implementing a grant management system for larger programs
• Making funding accessible to new organizations, and
• Establishing an annual conflict of interest declaration for staff responsible for managing G&C

There are 12 recommendations and staff agree with all of them.

A full copy of these audits is available on the Ottawa Auditor General’s website under Audit Reports.

For further information, contact:
(613) 580-9602
OAG@ottawa.ca