The Importance of Keeping Political Influence out of Purchasing

From time to time, council members are lobbied to intervene in the purchase of goods or services on behalf of a particular group or company.Purchasing decisions are best made on value for service, not political influence.As such, municipalities are obligated to go through a competitive procurement process that is open and transparent. The first step is to issue a bid request. This may be a Request for Quotation, Tender, or Proposal.The City’s bid opportunity documents are available online and are open to all qualified parties.Recently, council members have been contacted and asked to intervene in relation to a city-issued Request for Proposal (RFP) for competitive swimming services. These requests are from members of the public associated with groups bidding for that service. Council will not be getting involved in the procurement process for the reasons articulated below.It is imperative that the process be administered by staff and continue in a fair and impartial manner consistent with the terms of the RFP document.In particular, it is vital that no outside influence or lobbying be applied during the procurement process.The City of Burlington’s Procurement By-law speaks to this:Section 35.7

• Members of Council shall separate themselves from the Procurement process and have no involvement whatsoever in specific Procurements.
• Members of Council should not see any documents or receive any information related to a particular Procurement while the Procurement process is ongoing.
• Members of Council who receive inquiries from Bidders related to any specific Procurement shall immediately direct those inquires to the Manager of Procurement Services.

Section 38.0

• No Bidder or potential Bidder shall contact any member of Council or any City employee to attempt to influence the Award of a Bid. 

Consequences for not complying with the above directives can include disqualification of the bidder for the respective bid opportunity.These portions of the bylaw are following key recommendations of the 2005 Bellamy Report.In February, 2002, the City of Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry was established by Toronto's city council. The commissioner of the inquiry was Madam Justice Denise Bellamy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The judicial inquiry looked into a computer leasing scandal that included allegations of conflict of interest, bribery and misappropriation of funds around computer leasing contracts entered into by the City of Toronto municipal government from 1998-99.The Bellamy Report, following the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry, established the recognized best practices for public procurement. With this foundation, procurement decisions will be based solely on the merits of the submissions and keep political influence out.As such, council does not and will not intervene in the City’s procurement processes.At the end of RFP procurement processes, when a successful bidder is awarded the contract, the total bid amount of the bid and the successful bidder will be disclosed publicly. Until an award decision is made, there is a blackout period — that means the details of submissions remain confidential.Bidders who have questions about the RFP related to aquatic programs, can contact the Senior Buyer on this file Colleen Selkirk at Colleen.Selkirk@burlington.ca.— Mayor Marianne Meed Ward--*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor's Media and Digital Communications Specialist