Procurement Ombud (Office of the)
micro-office; no DP found, annual report used as current strategy doc; FOI page guess 404'd
Current this library's internal records: The Procurement Ombud's 2024-2025 Annual Report (2025)
Completeness
- Document shelf: 18 rows (18 archived · 0 staged · 0 pending · 0 missing)
- Backgrounder: on file
- Strategy-evolution brief: not written yet
- Custody audit: 18 of 18 row(s) audited, all clean
- Last verified: 2026-08-01 · this org has had a full discovery-verification pass (our discovery-verification log)
Endpoints
- Website
- Open data: checked — none found
- API: checked — none found
- RSS: checked — none found
- Newsroom: checked — none found
- FOI / access requests: checked — none found
Document shelf (18 rows)
Backgrounder
Source: this library's internal records — a mechanical research draft, not independently reviewed for publication; reproduced as-is.
Procurement Ombud (Office of the) - backgrounder
Backgrounder / GOV-Q10-WAVE1-d1 / 2026-08-04 / registry row: fed-procurement-ombud (this library's government-document registry) / lens file for this org's series briefs
Mandate & statutory basis
The Office of the Procurement Ombud (OPO) was created through an amendment to the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act and became operational with the coming into force of the Procurement Ombudsman Regulations in 2008 (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/rapports-reports/2024-2025/index-eng.html, fetched this review). The Office describes itself as "a neutral and independent organization of the Government of Canada that helps resolve contracting disputes, investigates complaints from Canadian businesses, and reviews federal procurement practices and makes recommendations for improvements" (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/index-eng.html, fetched this review). Annual reports are submitted "Pursuant to paragraph 22.3(1) of the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act" (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/rapports-reports/2024-2025/index-eng.html).
Roles, responsibilities & scope
OPO reviews supplier complaints about the award of certain federal contracts below regulatory dollar thresholds (stated on the Office's site, as fetched this review, as $34,700 for goods and $139,000 for services — these thresholds are indexed periodically, ⚠️ still being checked current-year exact figures), reviews supplier complaints about the administration of federal contracts of any value, reviews the procurement practices of federal departments for fairness, openness and transparency, and provides Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/bureau-office-eng.html; https://opo-boa.gc.ca/index-eng.html, both fetched this review). The Office's stated priorities are organized around five pillars: diversity, simplification, transparency, knowledge deepening and sharing, and ADR (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/piliers-pillars-eng.html, fetched this review).
Governance & reporting line
The Procurement Ombud is appointed by the Governor in Council for a five-year renewable term following "an open, transparent and merit-based selection process" (Statement from the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/news/2018/01/statement_from_ministerofpublicservicesandprocurementcarlaqualtr.html); the current Ombud was first appointed effective April 3, 2018 and was reappointed for a second five-year term in 2023 (same source; https://opo-boa.gc.ca/bio-eng.html). The Office "operates at arm's length from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)" while the Ombud "reports to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement," who is required to table the Office's annual report in Parliament (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/faq-eng.html, fetched this review).
Budget scale
Total operating costs for fiscal year 2024-25 were $4,736,071.37, of which $4,205,775.87 was salaries and employee benefits, with the remainder split across professional services ($126,702.06), operating expenses ($88,283.87), information and communication ($108,936.53), materials and supplies ($13,773.38), and corporate services purchased from PSPC ($192,599.66) (Procurement Ombud's 2024-2025 Annual Report, https://opo-boa.gc.ca/rapports-reports/2024-2025/index-eng.html, fetched this review).
Institutional history
The position and Office were established through a statutory amendment to the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act, becoming operational in 2008 when the Procurement Ombudsman Regulations came into force (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/rapports-reports/2024-2025/index-eng.html; registry doc shelf shows the Office's first annual report covers 2008-2009, fed-procurement-ombud-ar-2008). The Office's 2024-25 annual report is described by the current Ombud as "my eighth annual report," and notes the Office has operated "on a static budget" through its history to date (same source). The registry's earliest registered document, the First Report of the Procurement Ombudsman 2008-2009 (https://opo-boa.gc.ca/documents/rapports-reports/2008-2009/rapport-report-2008-2009-eng.pdf), anchors the Office's founding year at 2008.
Strategy evolution brief
No strategy evolution brief written for this org yet.