Economy and Efficiency of Services – Correctional Service Canada

Audit Summary

Publication Date:
December 2008

Audit Office:
Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Link to full report:
http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_200812_07_e_31831.html

The objectives of the audit were to determine whether Correctional Service Canada can demonstrate sufficient attention to economy for the resources and goods used in the provision of its security services and the procurement and delivery of institutional services (food, cleaning, and clothing), and
Whether the Agency can demonstrate that these services are managed, designed, and provided with sufficient attention to their efficient delivery.

The audit covered three key areas of Correctional Service Canada relevant to economy or efficiency:

the procurement of food and cleaning products and the procurement and distribution of correctional officers’ and male inmates’ clothing;
the delivery of security services through the allocation of correctional officers, including the payment of overtime; and
senior management’s monitoring and decisions relating to security services and food, cleaning, and clothing services.

We expected Correctional Service Canada’s senior management to have the assurance that services are designed and provided in a manner that demonstrates sufficient attention to efficient delivery.
We expected Correctional Service Canada to have demonstrated sufficient attention to efficiency in the management of its human resources by developing and deploying a standard for allocating the minimum number of correctional officers to provide a safe and secure environment for its inmates and employees in its institutions.
We expected Correctional Service Canada to have demonstrated that it had designed and implemented its policies, procedures, and practices for inventory and distribution of institutional goods with sufficient attention to efficiency.

Correctional Service Canada does not manage its purchasing of food, clothing, and cleaning products in a way to obtain best value at the lowest available cost. Its purchasing processes are behind those of other industries that purchase similar goods in similar volumes. This means the Agency is missing opportunities for savings available through higher-volume purchasing. In addition, CSC has not analyzed either the overall cost of preparing food inside the institutions or whether there are more economical alternatives.
Overtime costs have continued to increase in the last six years, significantly exceeding the amount budgeted. At the same time, spending on rehabilitation programs, training, and building maintenance has been less than the budgeted amounts. While some overtime is necessary to deliver security services, the audit found no overall strategy or policy designed to control the use of overtime, and little analysis of the impact of overtime on salary expenses and programs and of whether using overtime is more economical than hiring additional personnel.
CSC focuses much of its effort on safety and security over economy and efficiency. The audit found little direction from national headquarters to institutions on how to manage their operations more economically and efficiently.

Correctional Service Canada should:

Collect, at a national level, sufficient information on the volume and cost of its purchases and their use by location. It should use this information to perform in-depth analysis of its procurement of its food, cleaning, and clothing services, and regularly examine potential alternatives and improvements to its current practices. Further, it should examine the cost-saving opportunities based on the volume of its purchases.
Conduct sufficient analysis to determine that its deployment of correctional officers results in the most economic and efficient result.
Ensure that its senior management receive and review suitable analysis and performance information to allow them to monitor and make decisions for its institutional and security services with sufficient attention to economy and efficiency. The Agency should identify and analyze opportunities for cost savings, and for planning, implementing, monitoring, and improving the delivery of these services with due consideration to economy and efficiency.