Alberta government managers found guilty of manipulating contracts

Disciplinary actionwill be taken against three government managersfound byAlberta's public interest commissioner to haverigged the awarding of contracts last fall.

In eight different instances, managers from Alberta Innovates -Technology Futuresand Innovation andAdvanced Education doctored bids to favour a preferred candidate in IT contracts, the commissioner ruledin a report released Thursday.

"This type of action is unacceptable," Service Alberta ministerDeronBiloussaid. "It's inexcusable and we don't intend to sit by and do nothing about it."

Bilousconfirmeddisciplinary action is underway.But herefused to elaborate further on who the managerswere and what disciplinary measures will be taken. He also would not comment on whetherpolice should be involved.

But Bilous decried the findings as evidence of the formerProgressive Conservative government's culture of entitlement.

"We are here to work for Albertans and this culture of entitlement needs to end," he said.

The contracts were worth more than $100,000 each. Seven were with Innovation and Advanced Education, one was with Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures.

The wrongdoing occurred between October and December 2014.

A whistleblower tipped off the commissioner to look into the bids.

The investigation found the managers directed or counselled others to commit a wrongdoing.

They were also found to have manipulated competition scores to elevate the standing of preferred candidates.

Public Interest Commissioner Peter Hourihansaid some employees produced false documents in an attempt to cover up the issue.

"It's concerning that somebody would do that," he said."It presents us with a distinct perspective that it was done with intention."

Bilous saidthere areplans to introduce a procurement accountability framework across government andset up an independent audit process to ensureemployees are following best practices.

The contracts expire annually so they will soon be put out to tender, he said.