Winnipeg, MB – Mayor Scott Gillingham and Joseph Dunford, the City of Winnipeg’s Chief Administrative Officer today responded to the report of the Winnipeg Police Service Headquarters Inquiry, committing to address the report recommendations and detailing significant measures already taken to improve the governance, oversight, and delivery of large-scale, publicly funded capital projects.
“I want to thank Commissioner Smorang and the Inquiry Commission for their work,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham. “The events examined in this report happened 15 to 18 years ago, and a lot has changed at City Hall since then. We've spent years auditing and improving how we manage major projects and protect taxpayers' money. I'm pleased the Commissioner has recognized that progress, and I believe his report validates much of the work we've done while showing us where we can go further.”
Since 2014, the City has made substantive procedural changes to strengthen oversight, improve accountability, and identify conflicts of interest to prevent this level of fraud from occurring in the future.
“Maintaining an open, collaborative and well-supported public service is a top priority for me – and an important recommendation within the report,” said Dunford. “Ensuring senior members of the Public Service are comfortable identifying concerns and speaking truth to power are at the foundation of good governance of every project.”
The report recommendations identify procurement improvements, reporting requirement amendments, and conflict-of-interest requirements, several of which have been implemented by the City since 2014.
This includes:
- Clarifying governance, reporting, accountability, and project leadership roles
- Involving legal teams in the development and drafting of requests for proposals for mega projects
- Strengthening procurement practices, including piloting the use of standardized construction documents
- Undertaking industry engagement in the early stages of project development
- Involving independent and external parties in the costing and audit of project invoices
- Completing an external needs analysis to improve project management
- Expanding requirements for use of conflict-of-interest disclosures
- Engaging fairness monitor for mega projects (over $500 million)
- Conducting a best practice analysis for RFP and contract documentation for alternate delivery projects (public private partnerships, design build and progressive design build) with input from external legal with large-scale infrastructure expertise.
- Updated real estate policy and creation of an independent fairness commissioner role
Gillingham also highlighted the Commissioner's recognition of the City's efforts to recover money through legal action.
“The Commissioner specifically commended the elected officials and City staff who pursued legal action to recover the money owed to Winnipeg taxpayers,” said Gillingham. “That decision was important because it sent a clear message: if you try to rip off the City of Winnipeg and its taxpayers, we're going to come after you. Through years of legal action, we've now recovered nearly $30 million, and I want to thank everyone who supported and pursued that effort.”
“Our duty is to Winnipeg residents and taxpayers, who expect and deserve better. I have directed the Public Service to immediately develop an implementation plan to address the remaining recommendations with a report to Council.”