In his new Knowledge Deepening and Sharing report, the Procurement Ombud outlines 5 key solutions to address long-standing systemic issues in federal procurement. These issues, have persisted for decades and continue to undermine the efficiency of the system and the core principles of fairness, openness, and transparency.
These systemic issues, such as overly complex solicitation processes, unclear accountabilities, and fragmented rules, have been raised by Parliamentarians, procurement experts, and Canadian businesses year after year, highlighting the urgent need for systemic change.
In consultation with federal procurement experts and stakeholders, the Procurement Ombud has identified 5 foundational changes for improving the system.
The top 5 foundational changes proposed by the Ombud are:
- The establishment of a federal Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) to ensure effective oversight
- The creation of a government-wide vendor performance management (VPM) system to enhance supplier accountability
- The development of one universally applicable set of federal procurement rules to simplify the overly complex federal procurement landscape for both suppliers and procurement professionals
- The use of artificial intelligence (AI) advancements to modernize federal procurement tools and systems
- The establishment of a framework for procurement data collection to increase the transparency of federal procurements
