Audit of Contracting at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
Audit and Evaluation Branch
Industry Canada
December 2005
Executive Summary
1.0 Executive Summary/Conclusions
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), a special operating agency, is responsible for the administration and processing of the greater part of intellectual property in Canada. Over the last several years, CIPO has experienced unprecedented growth and the number of employees well exceeds 850.
A departmental contracting framework initiated by the Corporate Comptroller's Branch in the year 2000 committed the Audit and Evaluation Branch (AEB) to performing annual contracting audits on two branches within Industry Canada. CIPO was selected as one of the branches to be audited in 2004-2005 to complement a scheduled Management Control Framework (MCF) audit. CIPO was also selected based on the level of contracting activity.
In carrying out its contracting activities, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office is required to adhere to the Financial Administration Act and the policies and guidelines of Treasury Board (Government Contracting Regulations) and Industry Canada's Contracting policy. CIPO recently consolidated all contracting exceeding $5,000 under the Contracting and Procurement Unit of the Planning, Finance and Administration Branch. This centralized Unit was established in April 2004 and has developed internal contracting procedures which represents a key step in implementing a risk-based approach to contract management.
Our assessment found that the fundamentals of the current contracting process are sound. It is believed that the practices in place within the Canadian Intellectual Property Office are appropriate given the nature of the contracting being conducted. The audit found no material deviations from the applicable policies, acts and regulations governing contracting. There was no evidence that the Canadian Intellectual Property Office had exceeded its authorities.
The introduction of a Contract Request Summary process for all service contracts greater than $5,000 is effectively a risk-based approach to reviewing contracting requirements. This requires managers to identify whether they have considered alternative means of completing the work, whether the supplier has a history of related work and to justify any amendments. It is a significant step in accountability and control.
Included in our review were contracts for the provision of minor construction services and services of movers/installers for furnishings processed as Requests for Proposal. These files were initiated prior to the implementation of the Contracting and Procurement Unit. The former process was labour intensive in that it required detailed evaluations, yet they were issued for only one year. The same services have been contracted for, or are in the process of being renewed, under the new process and now provide the benefit of a multi-year option feature which will reduce the level of effort for all involved, from project manager to contracting unit. This is a demonstration of the type of benefit achieved from having professional advice and assistance available from the Contracting and Procurement Unit.
Final Report (PDF - 111 KB - 14 pages)
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Date Created: 2006-06-19
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