Fairness Monitor

A Fairness Monitor (FM) is an independent third party engaged to observe all or part of a government activity, such as a procurement. The monitor provides an impartial opinion or professional attestation on whether the activity was conducted fairly, openly and transparently. The term is used in the Government of Canada's Fairness Monitoring Program, administered by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).

In PSPC's program, fairness monitoring gives independent assurance to departments, suppliers, Parliament and Canadians. The monitor is an oversight function. It does not replace the contracting authority, the technical authority or the bid evaluators. Details of the program are on the PSPC Fairness Monitoring page.

What a fairness monitor does during a procurement

A monitor observes defined activities, identifies fairness-related issues for the contracting or technical authority, and reports on what was observed. Monitoring can happen in real time, so fairness issues can be identified and resolved before they turn into costly disputes after the fact.

The Electronic Security Maintenance report shows the typical scope of work. In that procurement, the monitor:

• reviewed the request for proposals before its release;
• observed solicitation activities and bid evaluation;
• raised fairness-related matters with the contracting authority;
• verified that responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

The full account is in the Electronic Security Maintenance fairness monitor report.

What the published reports contain

PSPC publishes fairness-monitor reports. Each one contains the monitor's observations, impartial opinions and a professional attestation about the fairness, openness and transparency of the monitored activity. The reports are collected under PSPC's standards and oversight pages.

The reports also say what fairness means. One PSPC report states that decisions should be objective, free from bias, favouritism or influence, and in line with established rules. The Integration Support Services report sets out this definition.

Where PSPC has used fairness monitors

PSPC uses fairness monitors for both procurement and real-property transactions. The published examples cover a wide range of work:

• Defence: Software Engineering Facility Professional Services, issued on behalf of the Department of National Defence under solicitation W8486-217807.
• Naval in-service support: the competitive procurement of support for LM2500 gas-turbine engines on Halifax-class frigates, where the monitor covered all phases of the process.
• Goods: the non-operational clothing and footwear contract.
• Secure documents: printing, warehousing, order fulfillment and distribution of immigration, refugee and citizenship documents.
• Construction and real property: the Les Terrasses de la Chaudière building-envelope replacement.

What a fairness monitor means for a supplier

A supplier deals with the procurement itself, not with the monitor. You submit questions and bids under the stated rules and supply the information the contracting authority requests. The monitor observes the solicitation period, the handling of questions and answers, and bid evaluation, and then reports on whether officials' responses and actions were reasonable and appropriate.

For bid teams, the practical lesson is to follow the solicitation document exactly and to put questions through the channel it names. A monitored process is one where those steps are observed and reported on. Reviewing past reports on similar procurements shows what PSPC looks at and how it describes fairness.