Auditor general finds more sole-source contracts to Tory-connected firm

Former health minister Fred Horne personally handed four sole-source contracts to Navigator Ltd., a consulting firm with close ties to the provincial Progressive Conservative party, Albertas auditor general disclosed Tuesday.

Auditor General Merwan Saher found the government breached its own policies when Horne gave the contracts to Navigator.

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The (health) department told us that direction came from the ministers office to use Navigator Ltd. as the contractor, Saher wrote in his report. He added there was no description on the contract request form or in the contract file for the first contract as to how (Navigator) was identified, including whether or not other contractors were considered and if not, why not.

In a brief interview Tuesday, Horne said the auditor general had acknowledged in his report that Navigator had unique experience.

In fact, the report said the government could not provide any documentation to explain what, if any, unique skills Navigator had. The government also could not justify the sole-source contracts, nor could the ministry justify the amounts of the contracts, which totalled nearly $220,000, the report said.

Horne's former chief of staff, Carol Anderson, now works for Navigator as alobbyist.

Earlier this month, CBC News obtained a leaked internal auditor generals report which revealed the government of former premier Alison Redford had improperly handed two flood-related, sole-source contracts to Navigator.

Leaked report

The internal report showed that, during the 2013 southern Alberta floods, Redfords communications director, Stefan Baranski, engaged Navigator on behalf of the premiers office with what became a $247,000 contract.

But the premiers office did not prepare a contract, perform the necessary due diligence on the pricing or ultimately sign the contract, the internal report said.

For both of those contracts, as with the four Alberta Health contracts, the auditor general could not find adequate documentation to explain why Navigator was hired, or even if it had the qualifications to perform the work. Auditors also found no evidence any effort was made to contact other companies to determine if they could have done the work.

The auditor general, in his report released Tuesday, confirmed the findings of his earlier internal report obtained by CBC News.

This is direct evidence that those in charge sought to give these high-level contracts to a group tied at the hip with the PC party and Mr. (Premier Jim) Prentice without ever having to justify the work they were doing, Wildrose MLA Kerry Towle said. Clearly, this is just the latest example of a PC government putting the interests of its friends above the interests of taxpayers.

Tory Ties

Navigator has well-documented ties to former premiers Redford and Ed Stelmach, as well as Prentice.

Jason Hatcher, one of Navigators partners and a registered lobbyist, served as Prentices anonymous spokesman for the media before Prentice formally announced his intention to run for the Tory leadership.

Navigators managing partner, Randy Dawson, helped run the Tories 2008 election campaign, lead by Stelmach, and was a member of the partys strategy committee for the 2012 election of Redfords majority government. Dawson has also been directly involved in at least one of four Alberta byelection campaigns - Calgary Elbow, the riding formerly held by Redford before she resigned following a string of high-profile scandals.

Prentice has publicly said both Hatcher and Dawson are long-time friends. The auditor generals report shows Prentice, now president of executive council, was provided with a copy of the report Sept. 19.

In a statement Tuesday, Prentice reiterated that he will introduce an Accountability Act this fall which will ban all lobbyists, including Navigator, from receiving government contracts.

The internal report about sole-source contracts was the second auditor generals report leaked recently to CBC News. A previous leaked internal report detailed how Redfords staff when she was premier booked fake passengers on government planes so she could fly alone with a selected entourage.

Saher decried the leaks, saying the unauthorized disclosure of the information interferes with our audit process and the principle that the results of the work of the audit are to be made available to all MLAs simultaneously, and before those results are made public.

The auditor general said the leak of the internal report about sole-source contracts was particularly harmful because it contained a chart which he said would have been removed because it created an invalid comparison. The comparison showed other firms conducted focus groups for about $30,000 less than what the government paid Navigator.

I had concluded that the comparison might not be valid, as it might not be (an) apples to apples (comparison,) Saher said.

In response to repeated questions from a Calgary Herald reporter, Saher said he will consider an internal investigation of the leaks, or an investigation through the legislature Speakers office, but he rejected calling in the police.