Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, February 06, 2019 -

All federal organizations have movable assets, e.g., vehicles, furniture, machinery, and other goods and equipment. Such assets can be disposed of by either transferring them to other departments or agencies, or selling, donating, recycling, or scrapping them. Certain federal departments and agencies did not manage their surplus assets in the best possible way, according to a report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts presented today in the House of Commons by the Hon. Kevin Sorenson, Chair of the Committee.

In the spring of 2018, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit whose objective was to determine whether selected federal organizations disposed of surplus goods and equipment at the appropriate time in a manner that maximized benefits, such as selling assets for the best possible return, reusing or refurbishing assets that were still in good condition, donating assets to organizations that could benefit from them, and disposing of assets in an environmentally sustainable way.

The audit found that because the incentives to sell surplus assets outweighed other methods, such as reusing, refurbishing, and donating, selected federal organizations did not always dispose of surplus goods and equipment in a manner that maximized benefits. In contrast, the Canada Revenue Agency developed ways in which to increase the reuse and refurbishment of assets.

Additionally, the OAG was unable to conclude whether federal organizations under audit disposed of surplus goods and equipment at the appropriate time, as they did not maintain sufficient documentation, a matter of great concern to the Committee.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee has made four recommendations to help ensure that federal departments and agencies continue to improve their asset life-cycle management practices.