Acts of Founded Wrongdoing
On 16 October 2017, the departmental Internal Disclosure Office (IDO) received a disclosure of wrongdoing pursuant to the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA) pertaining to alleged wrongdoings at a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) base in Canada. Specifically, the following allegation was made: • A misuse of public funds – It was alleged that base authorities had entered into an agreement with a transportation company to provide free “shuttle bus” services on a regular schedule to take military and civilian personnel from the base to the local community and back.The subsequent investigation conducted by the Directorate of Special Examinations and Inquiries (DSEI) concluded that:• The agreement in place between DND and the transportation company was not a valid contract, thus resulting in legal liability concerns which were never addressed.• The former Base Commander had neither the public nor non-public contracting authority to enter into a sole-source non-competitive agreement with the transportation company.• The payment to the transportation company through a non-contractual agreement constitutes a misuse of public funds and a breach of government contracting regulations.
The investigation report contained the following recommendations:
• The current Base Commander immediately cancel the existing agreement with the transportation company and put into place a formal contract to obtain the transportation services required for DND employees, CAF members, and their families.
• Advice from financial and legal experts be obtained before any new contract is signed.
The DND Senior Officer for Internal Disclosure (SOID) has informed management of the findings of the DSEI investigation.