Federal inspectors spend more time certifying Canadian exports of fruits and vegetables than making sure that the plants and produce that come into Canada are bug- and disease-free, the Auditor-General has found.
In a report released Thursday, Sheila Fraser called for greater protection of Canada's crops and forests, given the associated industries are worth $100-billion a year.
Ms. Fraser pointed to the threats associated with invasive plants, seeds, pests and diseases, and was alarmed to report that “high-risk imported commodities … are sometimes released for distribution without being inspected.”
The Auditor-General found that inspection standards vary widely by region, and that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is not up-to-date when it comes to identifying new risks.
“We are concerned that the relative lack of attention to surveys for new plants, pests, and diseases could limit the Agency's ability to deal effectively and economically with new invasive species, before they become established plant health emergencies,” the report said.
Federal inspectors cannot be expected to go through all of the 84,000 shipments that come into Canada every year, but Ms. Fraser said they need a better system to find the ones that pose the greatest risk.
“There is a belief among Agency officials that certifying exports is a high priority and uses a greater proportion of resources [than inspecting imports].”
As it stands, the entire inspection system is paper-based and largely reliant on forms that are faxed from one office to the other.
“It's not surprising that things get lost,” Ms. Fraser said.
The Auditor-General's report also found that Public Works Canada sometimes calls on private-sector consultants to design a bidding process for a contract, and then allows them to bid on the same contracts.
Ms. Fraser said the situation gives preferential treatment to the consultants or companies involved in determining the criteria used to select the winning bid.
In the case of a $16-million contract, a consultant working for CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Inc. was hired by Public Works to develop the request for proposals. CGI went on to win the contract, and its consultant continued to work on the project.
“In our opinion, such an arrangement constitutes a conflict of interest,” the report said.
In some cases at Public Works, contracts for professional services are amended or allowed to grow well beyond their original scope. In others, consultants are retained on a quasi-full-time basis year after year, creating the risk that they could eventually be considered federal employees, with a right to benefits and pensions.
Still, the audit of $1-billion in competitive and sole-sourced contracts at Public Works was positive, saying that rules were respected in a large majority of cases. The report provided a welcomed change for the department, which has been hit by the sponsorship scandal and a number of other fiascos.
The Auditor-General also encouraged Correctional Services Canada to use its pan-Canadian presence and its large buying power to obtain better prices on food and cleaning products for its prisons.
The report said the agency's 58 institutions should imitate the hotels and the hospitals that have banded together to increase their purchasing power. The average food cost for prisoners is $4.47 a day, but the preparation adds an extra $9 a day. In addition, meals for vegetarians or special religious needs cost almost $20 a day.
“The Agency is not taking advantage of potential savings from its purchasing volume,” the report said. “CSC needs to analyse its needs for food in terms of quantity, volume, and cost before identifying potential savings.”
In addition, CSC employees are doing more and more overtime work, even as the prison population remains stable.
The Auditor-General also found that a group of 51 small federal agencies have an obligation to produce an average of two reports a year that, in many cases, are of little value to the government. “The detail, complexity, and frequency of the required reporting were onerous, and it was not always clear to (the agencies) how that information improved accountability,” the Auditor-General's report said.
The Auditor-General added that the agencies have long complained about the problem, and that it is time to take action and streamline the requirements.
