The cases have been referred to RCMP
PUBLIC Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) on Wednesday announced that it has detected several fraudulent billing schemes undertaken by subcontractors (individuals) working on federal contracts awarded to prime contractors (suppliers).
These individuals submitted timesheets and billed multiple departments under separate contracts. This was detected as a result of the department’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its approach to detecting fraudulent activities and other types of wrongdoing.
PSPC said that investigations have found that three information technology subcontractors fraudulently billed on contract work across a number of separate federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations between 2018 and 2022. These illegitimate payments are estimated to total nearly $5 million.
PSPC said that Wednesday’s announcement is the first wave of fraudulent billing cases the department has identified, with more expected to be announced in the coming months. It added that consistent with Budget 2018 commitment to strengthen its approach to addressing corporate wrongdoing, these cases are the result of departmental investigatory efforts supported by data analytics.
In response to these founded investigations, PSPC has taken action to revoke or suspend the security status of the subcontractors in question. Following administrative investigations, the department has referred the cases to the RCMP. The RCMP is investigating. PSPC said that it cannot release the names of the individuals or the list of suppliers as a subset of suppliers could be subject to the RCMP investigation. In order to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations, further details cannot be provided at this time.
The department is also moving forward to recover these illegitimate payments on behalf of the Government of Canada.
PSPC said: “We encourage people who suspect illegal, illicit or unethical activities in Government of Canada contracting to report these activities directly to our Special Investigations and Internal Disclosure Directorate, at spac.dgsdivulgationinterne-
PSPC said it has effective methods to detect and respond to instances of fraudulent activity, as Wednesday’s announcement demonstrates. “We will continue to refine and expand the use of our tools, including data analytics, to better detect and address wrongdoing, and to ensure that individuals or entities engaging in fraud or other illegal activities are held accountable for their misconduct, while seeking restitution to the Crown,” it added.
PSPC said it is regularly exploring lessons learned from identified schemes and cases of wrongdoing to further refine its prevention (including training) and detection measures, in order to better respond to future potential instances of misconduct.
