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Feds Order $21.5 Million Worth of Smartphones from Bell During ‘March Madness’
According to a report by CBC News, the federal government placed an urgent order of 31,000 smartphones valued at $21.5 million from Bell Mobility, as part of its ‘March Madness’ spending to ensure the payment came out of the 2017-2018 budget. A total of 27 departments and agencies participated in the bulk smartphone order, 20% of which consists of the iPhones.
For those who are not aware, ‘March Madness’ is a phenomenon which sees federal departments quickly spend all of their remaining annual budgets in the last month of the fiscal year to avoid losing the cash altogether in the following budget. The bonuses paid to some executives in government are also partly dependent on how close to budget they are at year-end.
The source notes that Shared Services Canada sent an urgent order to Bell on Feb. 20, with delivery required within five weeks in order to qualify as 2017-2018 expenditures. “Bell will bill partners [departments] directly for these orders, and will ship to partners by March 31, 2018,” says an internal memo obtained by CBC News.
“Android devices, such as the Samsung S7 and S8 smartphones, made up about 80 per cent of the order. About 20 per cent was for iOS devices — Apple iPhones. Three departments — Privy Council Office, Industry and SSC — together ordered 1,800 iPhone 8 models. The largest departmental order by far was from Global Affairs Canada, with 5,500 devices split evenly between the iPhone7 and the Samsung S7.
Absent from the order were BlackBerrys, once ubiquitous in Ottawa but now disappearing.”
According to the bill of sale, Bell provided a volume discount of $6 million for the cellphone purchases.
Shared Services Canada supports about 230,000 cellular devices, meaning the March order represents almost 15% of inventory. A Bell spokesman declined to comment on the bulk purchase, saying the company does not discuss details about any of its government or business contracts.
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The federal government budget legislation is messed up. It’s essentially, you either spend your allotment of funds or next year you’ll have your budget reduced and you’ll have less. There is no reward mechanism for saving money.
Additionally, many sections, units, and departments are only given, say past year dollars. For example, the salary budget is based on salary dollars from, say 2010. Yet their being paid in current year dollars.
The budget heads have to squeeze and shuffle money from other areas and not fill position resulting in employees doing more with less causing stress, burn-out, and disability claims.
This scenario is not prevalent in all federal departments. Some sections have deadbeat employees who have it easy and don’t work much. Those who work in Human Resources tend to be be the worst off and understaffed, underfunded.
It’s not just the federal government. This happens every year in provincial governments, municipal governments, and public sector institutions like schools, libraries and hospitals and any place that is dependent on money from governments. Departments spend all year but try to stay under budget in case unexpected expenses arise and sometimes find they have more before fiscal year end. Most of our computer upgrades would happen around February/March because of this because then we would know how many we could afford to upgrade. The spending was necessary and often overdue.
When people complain about the Bureaucracy being “inefficient” they really mean that it is purposely wasteful.
No. That might be your definition but It’s literally inefficient.
Literally, yes … but inefficient doesn’t necessarily imply that the waste is deliberate (which the march madness blowouts absolutely are) rather than incidental.
There was no waste in this case. They’re much needed the devices and in demand, perhaps not this second but in the coming months. Cellular devices are in short supply. Idiots breaking, damaging, and losing them is quite common.
While the previous government may have claimed they stopped this practice, it never was and never will be until Treasury Board legislation and funding changes.
far from being any of my business… but thanks’ we’ll ensure this won’t happen ever in the EU administtrations.
“According to the bill of sale, Bell provided a volume discount of $6 million for the cellphone purchases.” Way to save a ton of money on purchases that we’re going to happen anyway to replace old BB devices that were, in most cases, well pass their end of life. Well done!
How about fixing our disgraceful roads with that “surplus” you’re so eager to spend? Or how about not nickel and diming an income assistance recepiant over $6/month? Our government really is messed up and their priorities are extremely misplaced!