Government of Canada Continues to Increase Transparency of Contracts

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 13, 2013) - The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board, today announced new measures to increase the transparency of government contracts.

"Our Government believes that being accountable to taxpayers means being transparent about how money is spent," said Minister Clement. "We are building on that commitment by taking steps to ensure that information disclosed about public service contracts is accessible and easy to understand."

The new measures will ensure that more detailed information is published on contracts for services such as professional services and management consultant contracts. For example, rather than simply providing a generic description of the awarded contract, such as Management consulting contract, a more detailed explanation of the type of work and context will be provided.

The changes are part of the Government's ongoing efforts to enhance transparency in spending. As of April 2013, public service contracts over $10,000 awarded to former public servants in receipt of a pension under the Public Service Superannuation Act are proactively disclosed. Also in April, the Government unveiled a new expenditure database which, for the first time, provides citizens and parliamentarians with easy access and analysis of all government spending.

"Our Government's change is one of many measures intended to bring greater transparency to spending within the public service," said Minister Clement.

The instructions for the enhanced description of contracts are set out in the revised Guidelines on Proactive Disclosure of Contracts. The new measures will take effect for contracts awarded after October 1, 2013, which means that the additional information will start appearing in the quarterly proactive disclosure reports to be published by the end of January 2014.

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