11.1.1 Contracting authorities are encouraged to establish and maintain a formal challenge mechanism for all contractual proposals, including those within departmental authority, those sent to the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada, and those submitted to the Treasury Board. This mechanism could range from a formal central review board to divisional or regional advisory groups, depending on the departmental organization and magnitude of contracting. Decisions made by these review units should be recorded and available for subsequent internal audits and for the periodic audits or evaluations conducted by the Auditor General or by the Treasury Board Secretariat. Departmental officials appointed to review contracts should include the appropriate senior financial officer as the chairperson in all cases. Others should be from disparate program areas to ensure balance. The appropriate senior departmental personnel officer should be included in the review of contracts for the services of individuals, and the appropriate senior materiel officer when materiel or materiel-related services are reviewed. Those in a possible conflict of interest situation are to declare themselves and be replaced. Summaries of the contract review proceedings should be provided regularly to deputy heads so that they can determine whether their delegated signing powers are being properly administered.
11.1.2 The review methodology should address such basics as:
• is the proposal within the contracting authorities' legislative mandate?
• are funds available?
• are the competitive requirements of the regulations observed?
• are the departmental signing authorities observed?
• does the proposal have legal clearance where required? and
• is the proposal in line with government policies on bilingualism, employment equity, conflict of interest, etc.?
The review mechanism should also be able to determine if the proposed work is actually required. It is possible that other centres of responsibility within a department or some other government agency has already carried out work that will satisfy the requirement. The review should look at more general considerations, depending on the circumstances such as whether the responsibility centre is the appropriate one to handle the work proposed.