Natural Resources Canada Wasting Money on Telecommunications

[fishinggeek]

Here's an audit summary that was just released. IMO, a glaring example of how expenses can balloon under a bureaucracy that doesn't have adequate checks and controls.

 

 

 

Cell phone and BlackBerry use at Natural Resources out of control: audit

Sun Apr 27, 1:56 PM

 

 

 

By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press

 

 

OTTAWA - Cell phone and BlackBerry use at a major federal department has been out of control, with costs skyrocketing in a chaotic, Wild West atmosphere, says a new audit.

 

 

Natural Resources Canada failed to lay down any rules, lost track of the number of such devices, and let workers cut their own expensive service deals at a cost to taxpayers of up to $500,000 a year in wasted wireless spending.

 

 

"There are no policies, guidelines and procedures for voice telecommunications devices and service plans," says the newly released document, dated last November.

 

 

"Comprehensive corporate directives for the management and control of voice telecommunications do not exist."

 

 

Oversight was so weak that department managers could not provide auditors with even a basic inventory of its wireless devices.

 

 

Since the report was written, officials have determined that employees use 900 BlackBerries and 720 cell phones.

 

 

Investigators found that about one in every five of these devices was used by workers who had no clear job-related reason for carrying one.

 

 

Users were also allowed to make their own arrangements with Canada's main service providers - Telus Mobility, Rogers Wireless Inc., Bell Mobility Inc. - resulting in more than 1,500 individual contracts.

 

 

The proliferation of these individual deals, instead of a comprehensive contract for bulk use, saddled Natural Resources with an annual bill of at least $1.7 million in 2005-2006, a third higher than it should have been.

 

 

The auditors compared the department's wireless usage with that of the Manitoba government, which had arranged its own cost-saving, comprehensive deal. The analysis showed that Manitoba paid just $55 a month for BlackBerries, compared with $76 at NRCan; and $25 a month for cell phones, compared with $39 at the federal department.

 

 

The report also found that Natural Resources had no clear rules for recovering costs when workers used the devices for personal matters.

 

 

"Management and financial controls for voice telecommunications are inconsistent and there is limited monitoring of related activities," auditors concluded.

 

 

"NRCan is paying a premium for these services."

 

 

The department has since drafted a policy to lay down hard rules, although a final version is not expected until September after consultations, said spokeswoman Sonia Parent.

 

 

In the meantime, Natural Resources has switched over all but 20 of its devices to Telus and Rogers, under a Public Works initiative launched last May to bring all government wireless devices under comprehensive corporate agreements.

 

 

The two-year, $77.2-million Public Works deal is expected to wring annual wireless savings of up to 50 per cent for any department that signs on. Under the new arrangement, about 90 per cent of the devices will be serviced in North America by Telus.

 

 

In completing its switchover to the Public Works deal last December, Natural Resources had to pay Bell Mobility - which had been the department's main provider - about $85,000 to tear up existing contracts for 850 devices, Parent said.

 

Telus and Rogers, on the other hand, waived termination fees for the cell phones and BlackBerries that were transferred from individual contracts with their companies to the Public Works deal.

 

Parent noted that under the department's new guidelines, employees who spend between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of their time away from their normal office will be authorized to use cell phones or BlackBerries.

 

The devices will also be issued to "an employee (who) works in situations that have the potential to become threatening to their personal safety," she said.

 

The federal government spends about $40 million annually on wireless products and services.

 

The Natural Resources audit noted that, despite its poor performance, the department is among the few in the federal government to take steps to properly manage its wireless devices.

 

The report was obtained under the Access to Information Act.

Edited April 28, 2008 by fishinggeek

[Stoty]

pffffffffff

 

Typical....taking advantage of everything they can.

[LeXXington]

ouch.. makes you wonder, Every private company I work for has a policy in place for these even the super large ones.

 

Always wonder why goverment don't have these.. cause when they need more money they just tell@ you too give it too them.

[Steve]

Man, thats half a million they could have spent on stocking Atlantics.

[Stoty]

Exactly Steve.

Its a shame they are too irresponsible to realize that.

 

On another note with the MNR, I was out fishing Saturday morning and came across a few different "setups" they had in the trib to help the new Atlantic salmon they stocked in the stream. Thats great, but the MESS they left on the shoreline was unbelievable. There were metal rods, wire, garbage, etc just left there sitting all over the shoreline. For people who are supposed to be so "pro-environment", that didnt seem very conservative to me. Just plain lazy.

[jerdog]

Natural Resources Canada is a federal agency not the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources.

[fishinggeek]

Natural Resources Canada is a federal agency not the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources.

 

My bad. Thanks for the correction.

[Roy]

Don't feel bad, fishinggeek, I didn't see it either. Nice catch Jerdog.

[Hookset]

Thanks for posting this 'cuz it's the first I've heard of it.

Federal or Provincial, either way the public again pays and gets screwed.

Since we probably only catch about 10% of all wasted or improperly spent money, just think about how bad things really are.

They'll probably spend 1 million to figure out why they improperly spent 500 grand.

 

 

Hookset

[Maverick]

My mom works for Natural Resources Canada. She is a biologist that plays with the genes of trees to try and make them drought resistant or resistant to a certain type of insect. I don't think anybody at her level or in her department has a government issued cell phone or blackberry, I know she doesn't. It is probably the higher ups taking advantage of their "perks". $500 grand is a hell of a lot of money to be over spending but I own a cell phone and I know how easy it is to get a 200-300 dollar bill without even realizing it. That being said, the people aren't to blame, they were given phones to use and never given any limits or restrictions. I know if a company had given me a phone and said I could use it for personal use I would. NRCan are the only ones to blame. Their stupidity cost tax payers an extra 500k. Way to go boys!

[MCTFisher9120]

wow

[Tybo]

It's nice to see are government still believes in common sense.

 

Unfeignedly the people don't know what it means.