WINNIPEG, MB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, to investigate potential impropriety related to the purchase of flood barriers for $5 million last year. The call follows the review of 287 pages of federal government documents related to the purchase.

The documents suggest the request for proposal (RFP) was designed to exclude all but one bidder and that the $5 million price tag was based on how much was left in the budget near fiscal year end and not on flood protection needs. (Photo Louisiana National Guard setting up Tiger Dam tubing, that will then be filled with water to function as a dam. Photo: Expert Infantry/Flickr/Creative Commons)

“Taxpayers have to be able to trust government officials to get the best possible deal when they’re spending our money,” said Todd MacKay, Prairie Director for the CTF. “These documents suggest that officials pre-determined that they were going to spend $5 million on one product before even accepting bids.”

The procurement process for these flood barriers has a long and checkered history.

Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton first announced $5 million to purchase flood barriers for the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council on July 25, 2014. According to media reports, International Flood Control Corporation submitted an invoice for $5 million to Interlake First Nations for the Tiger Dam products on July 30, 2014. However, on Nov. 17, 2014, the provincial Ombudsman opened an investigation after receiving information from a whistleblower raising questions about the procurement process for the purchase. The provincial government stalled the purchase and initiated a formal RFP process.

However, in the spring of 2015, Interlake Reserves Tribal Council made a purchase of Tiger Dams worth $5 million using funding provided by the federal government. Confidential documents from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) obtained by the CTF shows this procurement process may have been unfair.

“Because Ottawa has $5 million in [a capital budget], they want to use this money to buy Tiger Dams,” wrote Derek Pena, an AANDC official, in an email on Mar. 10, 2015. “It seems that only one company exists that sells a highly certified Tiger Dam product. We could do an RFP citing this certification as a necessary requirement.”

The documents offer no evidence that Tiger Dams’ FM 2510 rating was necessary for any reason, but it was made a requirement. It was not a requirement for the provincial procurement process.

The process required complete delivery by Mar. 31, 2015, even though the deadline for submissions was Mar. 20, 2015. Other options, such as a staged delivery process, do not seem to have been considered.

“Delivery by March 31st may be a challenge,” wrote David Moore, an AANDC official, in an email on March 13. “Nevertheless it will be a condition of the RFP.”

International Flood Control seems to have been told that its bid had won before the process was complete.

“Anita [Wilson, executive director for IRTC] informs us they ‘understood’ the $5M was to go as of the close of the RFP and proceeded to verbally inform the winner to implement,” wrote Moore in an email dated Mar. 24, 2015. “Apparently, International Flood Control has already started so as to meet the March 31 deadline. We have sent an email telling them to hold sending a written award till we advise.”

Copies of the AANDC documents can be found HERE.