An independent audit of the City of Kamloops’ procurement and contracting practices has found the city’s purchasing system is built on a solid foundation but requires modernization to improve transparency, consistency, oversight and long-term planning.

The review, conducted by BDO Canada at a cost of $48,720 including tax, was commissioned following concerns raised by local vendors and members of council about access to city contracts and the use of Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and Vendors of Record (VORs).

Presenting the findings to council Tuesday, BDO partner Melissa Fournier stressed the audit did not uncover a broken system.

“I wouldn’t say by any means that it’s a finding of a broken procurement function,” Fournier told council. “There really is a solid foundation.”

Instead, she said the recommendations focus on improving consistency, transparency, oversight and efficiency across the city’s procurement operations.

Audit examined three years of procurement activity

The audit reviewed procurement and contracting activities over the past three fiscal years and included interviews with city staff, administrators and councillors, as well as benchmarking against four comparable municipalities: Vernon, Prince George, Nanaimo and Kelowna.

The review focused specifically on how the city uses procurement tools such as MSAs and vendor rosters to acquire goods, services and construction work.

According to Fournier, auditors examined five key areas:

• Compliance with city policies, trade agreements and delegated authorities.
• Operational governance and oversight.
• Risk management and contract suitability.
• Benchmarking against other municipalities.
• Opportunities for continuous improvement.

While auditors found Kamloops already has documented procurement policies, delegated approval authorities and reporting mechanisms in place, they identified several areas where improvements are needed.

Five recommendations

The report resulted in five primary recommendations.

The first calls for clearer governance structures and oversight responsibilities.

Auditors found council committees currently receive quarterly procurement reports, but roles related specifically to procurement oversight are not always clearly defined.

Fournier said municipalities across B.C. and Canada use a variety of governance models, but successful systems all provide structured reporting and clear accountability.

“What we found was that in some cases the roles or responsibilities specific to procurement oversight were not necessarily defined within the mandates of those committees,” she explained.

The second recommendation focuses on aligning procurement policies, procedures and approval thresholds.

Auditors found inconsistencies in how some departments apply procurement rules, creating additional reliance on the city’s five-person procurement team.

The third recommendation calls for centralized management of Master Service Agreements to improve visibility into supplier spending and contract usage.

During the review, auditors found some service categories had only a single qualified vendor attached to an MSA.

While acknowledging market limitations can make multiple vendors difficult in some specialized fields, Fournier said competitive arrangements generally work best when at least two vendors are available.

“In order to promote competitiveness and value for money, we tend to see at least two vendors on an established service arrangement,” she said.

The fourth recommendation involves records management.

Auditors found procurement records are currently spread across multiple systems including Bonfire, JD Edwards, Krimson, shared drives and, in some cases, personal employee drives.

The report recommends creating a centralized records system with stronger version control and retention practices.

The fifth recommendation encourages the city to move from a reactive procurement model toward proactive procurement planning, allowing staff to anticipate future purchasing needs and manage resources more efficiently.

Staff embrace recommendations

City staff indicated they agree with the audit findings and have already begun developing an implementation strategy.

Procurement Manager Ray Cezanne outlined a four-part action plan focused on modernization, oversight, transparency and long-term planning.

“We know that we want to make our procurement and contracting processes cleaner, more transparent, and aligned across the city,” Cezanne told council.

The city is targeting the first quarter of 2027 for many of the proposed policy updates, training initiatives and process improvements.

Among the planned changes are:

• Updated procurement policies and procedures.
• Expanded staff training and onboarding.
• Improved reporting to council and senior leadership.
• Better tracking of MSA spending and vendor performance.
• Centralized procurement records management.
• Development of longer-term procurement forecasting.

Existing software expected to handle many changes

Questions from council focused heavily on whether additional staffing or technology investments will be required.

Director of Corporate Services Dave Hallinan said many improvements can be achieved using tools the city already owns.

Hallinan noted procurement records currently exist in several locations, creating challenges for version control and document retention.

“We have them on S-drives, we have them in Bonfire, we have them in Krimson and, if I was to push back, I’d say we probably have them on individuals’ personal drives,” Hallinan said.

The city plans to expand its use of SharePoint and Bonfire to create a more centralized document management system.

Hallinan said Bonfire costs roughly $35,000 to $40,000 annually and already provides many of the capabilities identified in the audit.

Councillors say audit validates concerns

Several councillors said the audit stemmed from concerns raised by local contractors who questioned whether city procurement opportunities were being distributed fairly.

Councillor Bill Sarai said vendors frequently approached council claiming they could not gain access to city work.

“We were getting tasked and challenged out in the public from vendors saying, ‘Hey, we’ve been bidding on stuff. We never seem to get a foot in the door,'” Sarai said.

He emphasized the audit was never intended to uncover wrongdoing.

“This wasn’t to come out and have a gotcha moment. It was more of what can we do better?”

Councillor Stephen Karpuk said the findings validated council’s decision to seek an independent assessment.

“As a board of governance, we challenged staff to validate the organizational constraints that we have here,” Karpuk said.

He pointed to one benchmarking result showing Kamloops has the second-smallest procurement team among comparable municipalities.

Kelowna and Vernon both have procurement departments consisting of eight staff members, while Kamloops has five.

“In order to do something right, you have to have the capacity,” Karpuk said. “Sometimes spending money saves us money in the end because we do it right.”

Mayor asks about future audits

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson questioned whether conducting reviews more frequently could reduce costs in the future.

Fournier said many municipalities evaluate the value of internal audit functions, but the decision depends on an organization’s size, risks and priorities.

She noted future reviews could examine areas beyond procurement, including governance, risk management and operational controls.

For now, auditors say Kamloops has a strong procurement framework in place, but one that will need continued investment and modernization as the city grows.

“The city has established procurement and contracting practices in place,” Fournier concluded. “Our recommendations are intended to build on that existing foundation and support continued consistency, transparency, oversight and efficiency across the entire procurement lifecycle.”