The BC Liquor Distribution Branch says all the recommendations from the Auditor General Office are being implemented.

Spokesperson Vivianna Zanocco says the LDB did its due diligence in awarding contracts but says it did not have the documentation that said so in the files the Auditor General Office looked at.

“While we acted appropriately, we did not adequately map out our processes. We’re working to ensure this is rectified immediately. And we are accountable to the citizens of British Columbia, but we also have to be seen to be accountable to them. The Office of the Auditor General is pleased with the action that we’ve taken and the commitments we’ve made, and we’ll certainly keep them up to date on how we’ve progressed,” Zanocco tells NL News. She also says new templates have also been brought in to make sure staff follow procurement processes.

Meanwhile, B.C.’s Auditor General says there’s a little more concern with an audit of the Liquor Distribution Branch than just having documents in the wrong place.

“All of those things to me are a little more than just not enough documentation in the file. We wouldn’t normally find a pattern like this, so you might find an organization where they forget to document once in a while. But the fact that they didn’t even have documentation is actually against government policy,” Bellringer tells NL News.

The Auditor General Office audited 74 contracts that the LDB awarded directly between April of 2016 and July of last year, and it found that 54 of those were not awarded impartially.