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Patterns people ask about
Patterns in the records that people often ask about: deals made without competition, contracts that grew, amounts just under a limit, spending bunched at year end, and more. Each is counted from the records with its method written down. None is a finding of wrongdoing.
The Open Contracting Partnership's guide to red flags puts it this way: a red flag is not evidence that anything wrong happened. It points at something that may be worth a closer look.
Awarded without competition
5,657 items, $1.4 billionContracts given to one supplier without an open call for bids. Method
Emergency awards
352 items, $200 millionContracts awarded under the emergency or urgency exception. Method
Same supplier, sole-sourced again and again
1,415 items, $638 millionA public body gave the same supplier three or more sole-source awards. Method
Contracts that grew well past their award
217 items, $1.2 billionFederal contracts whose final value is at least double the original, and at least $25,000 more. Method
Priced just under a limit
408 items, $26.5 millionAmounts within 5% below an open-call limit. Method
Invoices that add up past a limit
493 items, $8.7 millionTwo or more invoices from one supplier for the same thing, each under a limit, together over it. Method
Year-end spending rush
45 items, $33.8 millionAwards and payments bunched in the last month of the fiscal year. Method
One supplier takes most of a body's awards
3 foundA single supplier received half or more of a public body's awarded dollars. Method
Published long after the award
379 items, $161 millionAwards that appear in a report more than 90 days after the award date. Method
Dates that cannot be right
26 items, $3.4 millionAward dates printed years before or after the report they appear in. Method
Possible duplicate payments
89 items, $380,044The same invoice from the same vendor, for the same amount, paid more than once. Method
MHA allowances used past their limit
none foundMembers whose spending in an allowance category passed its published limit for the year. Method
Overtime bigger than salary
90 foundJobs where people on the compensation list earned more in overtime than in base salary, counted by employer and job title. Method
Severance payments
204 foundSeverance paid to people on the compensation list, counted by employer and job title. Method
Descriptions that say almost nothing
592 items, $48.3 millionAwards described in one or two generic words. Method
Some patterns cannot be checked with Newfoundland and Labrador data: single bids, disqualified rivals and identical bids need bid-level records, which the province does not publish.