Watchdog report prompts renewed calls for Indigenous people to run Indigenous procurement

Federal procurement watchdog found 'cascading failures' in the federal government’s administration of Indigenous procurement programs.

A scathing watchdog report into the federal government’s multi-billion-dollar Indigenous procurement system has led to renewed calls for the program to be run by First Nations, Inuit and Métis people rather than public servants.

Dawn Madhabee Leach with the First Nations Procurement Authority told Global News that the federal government should make Indigenous people responsible for managing the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB).

That’s particularly the case in verifying businesses are legitimately majority-owned by First Nations, Métis or Inuit people before gaining preferential access to government contracts.

“When Indigenous people deliver the programs themselves, there’s a higher success rate rather than having the government deliver programs, especially business and economic programs,” Madhabee Leach said.

“We have had the successful delivery of programs over the years where we’ve proven that we’re in a better position to deliver and still be fully accountable to the federal government on all funding … I really believe that we need to have Indigenous people manage the (Indigenous Business Directory) because we can better assess who is an Indigenous person.”

In a report released Thursday, Procurement Ombud Alexander Jeglic’s office found Indigenous Services Canada and other government departments were failing to administer a program that’s supposed to guarantee five per cent of Ottawa’s contracts go to Indigenous firms.

The government’s “systemic disregard” for the principles behind the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB) meant that mandatory audits were not performed, departments did not ensure Indigenous businesses were actually benefiting, and the government’s claims that departments are hitting their targets are unsupported by hard numbers.

Indigenous business leaders have long warned the federal government about problems with the PSIB process, in particular that non-Indigenous businesses are gaming the system to gain access to work otherwise meant for First Nations, Métis and Inuit companies.