Federal departments and Crown corporations showed a “frequent disregard” for contracting rules as they aw bulk weed arded global consulting firm McKinsey & Company more than $200-million in contracts since 2011, often without an open competition, Auditor-General Karen Hogan reported Tuesday.

The audit found that federal contracting practices involving the New York-based multinational often did not demonstrate value for money and officials did a poor job of tracking whether the government actually received everything that had been promised.

Ms. Hogan said in a statement that while the audit focused on contracts awarded to McKinsey, it highlighted the need for procurement officials to follow basic requirements and good practices.

“Federal contracting and procurement policies exist to ensure fairness, transparency, and value for Canadians – but they only work if they are followed,” she said.

Over the years, feder wholesale cannabis marketplace al departments have turned to McKinsey for a wide range of issues, including health and welfare services, IT support, management consulting, scientific and research services and temporary help.

Tuesday’s report said nine out of 10 departments and agencies and eight out of 10 Crown corporations failed to properly follow all aspects of their procurement policies and guidance on at lest one contract. It also found that out of a sample of 33 contracts, 19 had one or more issues that prevented the organizations from demonstrating the contracts delivered value for money.

The report stated that auditors “found frequent disregard for procurement policies and guidance and risk to value for money across the contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company both by departments and agencies and by Crown corporations.”

It also found that 71 per cent of the 97 contracts were awarded without an open competition. The report expressed concern that some departments and agencies were not able to demonstrate that individual consultants had the necessary security clearances.

In addition to the report on McKinsey contracts, Ms. Hogan also released a report focused on spending by Sustainable Development Technology Canada and a third report on whether laws against cybercrime activities are effectively enforced.

The Globe and Mail has previously reported that the annual value of outsourcing contracts awarded to McKinsey by the federal government has climbed steadily under the Liberals.

The House of Commons unanimously approved a motion in February 2023 endorsing a request by the House of Commons committee on government operations calling for an audit of federal contracts with McKinsey. The government operations committee has held extensive hearings into federal contracting practices, including contracts awarded to McKinsey and other multinational consulting firms as well as an ongoing study into the cost of the ArriveCan app.

The Auditor General reviewed 97 professional services contracts to McKinsey between 2011 and 2023. The value of the contracts totaled $209-million and $200-million was spent.

The contract spending has attracted considerable attention from opposition MPs in light of the co popcorn cannabis mpany’s connections to the Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The main connection is that, in its early days, the Trudeau government relied heavily on policy advice from Dominic Barton, while he was the global head of the consulting firm, and then later named Mr. Barton as Canada’s ambassador to China from 2019 to 2021.

Throughout 2016 and 2017, Mr. Barton served as both the head of McKinsey and the chair of a federal economic advisory council to then-Liberal finance minister Bill Morneau. Mr. Barton has denied any connection between his volunteer advisory work and the growth in federal contracting with McKinsey.

The advisory council was an influential voice in Ottawa, making recommendations such as the creation of an infrastructure bank and calling for significant increases in immigration that were ultimately adopted in whole or in part by the government.

That federal contracting with McKinsey overlapped with a period in which the New York-based firm has dealt with several international scandals, including a long-standing relationship with Purdue Pharma, the makers of opioid drug OxyCo wholesale cannabis ntin.

The government released a review last June that said an internal review found no evidence of political interference in the awarding of contracts to McKinsey.

The review was led by then-Treasury Board President Mona Fortier and then-Public Services wholesale cannabis and Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek. Both ministers were dropped from cabinet the next month.

The Auditor General’s report on McKinsey contracts did not examine the issue of political interference and made no comment on that area.

The report did call on departments and Crown corporations to strengthen polices related to identifying actual or perceived conflicts of interest in the procurement process.

Ms. Hogan’s report comes on the heals of a recent review by Procurement Ombud Alexander Jeglic, who flagged concerns about “a strong perception of favoritism” in contracts awarded to McKinsey.

A spokesperson for McKinsey pushed back on the ombud’s report’s findings when they were released, saying the company follows all procurement laws and any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate.

The Auditor General’s report does not include a response from McKinsey, but the federal Treasury Board and several Crown corporations said they accepted the report’s findings and recommendations.

In a statement, federal Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the government accepts Ms. Hogan’s recommendations.

“This report will guide us through the important work that is already under way,” he said, pointing to recent announcements that the government has made to improve the procurement process.

He said the standing offer with McKinsey, which allowed several departments to access McKinsey services, expired in February 2023 and no standing offer is being renewed. He also said his department has updated the training for contracting officials and the government is also strengthening the conflict of interest code for public servants.