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Trépanier refused to disclose which six contracts were under review. But National Post reported on June 30 that WE Charity received five federal contracts worth a total of $120,000 since March 2017 from GAC, PCO and PHAC, according to public government records.
At the time, WE Charity explained that it had occasionally signed contracts with the federal government and that “in all instances, appropriate contracting procedures have been followed.”
The same government records show a sixth, previously unreported contract between the Canada School of Public Service and ME to WE Leadership — part of WE’s for-profit arm — worth $11,300.
No other contracts under appear under the names “WE”, “WE Charity” or “ME to WE”.
In separate statements, PHAC, GAC and PCO said that government regulation allows departments to sole-source a service contract worth under $40,000. They also stated that all their deals with WE respected procurement rules and that they would fully cooperate with the ombudsman’s review.
“Given the low dollar value of the contract, it was determined that the cost and resources required to solicit bids would outweigh any economic advantage that might be gained through a competitive process,” PHAC added in a statement regarding its $24,900 contract with WE in 2019.
The federal public service school declined to comment.
The procurement ombudsman’s review comes on the heels of two other investigations by the ethics commissioner into Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s involvement in the outsourcing of the Canada Student Service Grant to WE.
