The Official Opposition said Monday it was “scandalized” by the awarding of a contract by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) to a company with which its business ties were recently denounced by the Bureau of Inspector General (BIG).
Posted at 1:55 p.m.
Barely a few months ago, the transportation company’s board of directors terminated a contract for compensation and benefits consulting services with Normandin-Beaudry, following the recommendations of Brigitte Bishop, inspector general of the city.
At that time, it had been discovered that the spouse of a public agency project manager was working for the private company. The project manager in charge of the file at the STM had never informed his superiors that his spouse had an important position within the consulting firm to whom three contracts – which were valued together at approximately 1.7 million – were granted. At the time, an appearance of conflict of interest was suggested.
In his report published in May, Mme Bishop had judged that it was within the company itself that the contracts were mismanaged. The STM subsequently admitted its fault, judging that it had “misunderstood and applied, albeit unintentionally, certain aspects of the normative framework”, by committing to correct the situation.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Inspector General of Montreal, Brigitte Bishop.
On July 5, a new compensation and benefits contract was awarded to Normandin-Beaudry. However, the “remuneration” and “benefits” components have been split, says the STM. Normandin-Beaudry only obtained the first of the two parts.
“The employee who was apparently in a conflict of interest in the first contract will no longer have to deal with Normandin-Beaudry. The latter intervenes only for the social benefits component, now assigned to another firm, [soit Hub International Québec Limitée] “, indicated by email the spokesperson of the STM, Philippe Déry, assuring that the recommendations of the BIG are “in the course of executive”.
Framework measures
Mr. Déry also affirms that “monitoring measures have also been put in place for the situation that has arisen”. A letter “reminding the ethical rules” was also sent to the employee concerned.
In total, only two firms ultimately submitted a bid for the “compensation” component obtained by Normandin-Beaudry. “A call for tenders is public and any firm is entitled and legitimized to be able to tender. Normandin Beaudry’s bid allowed him to qualify as the lowest compliant bidder,” adds Mr. Déry, recalling that this is a mandate “requiring specific expertise” and “meeting significant needs.” for the STM.
Mayor Valérie Plante’s office declined to comment on the case on Monday, referring the requests to the STM. In the ranks of the official opposition, however, leader Aref Salem did not mince his words.
“We are outraged to see that the Société de transport de Montréal is not learning from its mistakes. It’s been three times in less than 12 months that the STM has been blamed by the Inspector General. Meanwhile, the best supervision of the control of the process surrounding the granting of calls for tenders that we are asking for is still awaited, ”he castigated.
“The administration of Projet Montréal must demand corrective measures from the STM and ensure that they are properly applied. It is his duty, ”said Mr. Salem again.
According to the OIG report, several people inside would have expressed their concerns about the legality of certain procedures before publication, but the complete information would not have been provided to the STM’s board of directors.
In February 2022, another OIG report had also noted “serious and serious” shortcomings in the awarding of construction contracts for the new Bellechasse transport center, an underground construction intended to accommodate 300 buses in Rosemont-La-Petite- Country.
With Vincent Larouche, La Presse