B.C.'s Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services quietly hired the second-in-command of its building operations and maintenance provider last summer to oversee the contract and its multi-year tendering process.
A January 4 memo published on BC Bid said the ministry “recently” hired Brian Fellows, the ex-chief operating officer of Brookfield GIS Workplace Solutions, as assistant deputy minister to oversee the government contract with Brookfield GIS.
“Mr. Fellows participated in a rigorous series of interviews and was subject to equally rigorous reference checking,” the memo said.
The hiring of Fellows was made by cabinet order September 14, on the cusp of the so-called Facility Management Procurement Project. The 2004-signed Brookfield GIS deal, which was extended in 2009 and 2014, expires April 1, 2019. The two-year procurement’s first phase began with the government seeking information from interested vendors until January 12 about facility management industry best practices and trends.
The memo said the job was posted nationally and that Fellows’ hiring was approved by John Dyble, the head of the public service and deputy minster to Premier Christy Clark.
According to the memo, Fellows and others involved in the procurement have signed non-disclosure agreements and are subject to the Public Service Code of Conduct.
Neither Brookfield GIS CEO Gordon Hicks nor Fellows responded to Business in Vancouver interview requests. Minister Amrik Virk was not available to comment, according to Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services spokeswoman Joanne Whittier. However, a prepared statement attributed to deputy minister John Jacobson stated that Jacobson hired Fellows from among four finalists interviewed. Fifty-eight applications were received.
According to Jacobson, “The ministry has been very transparent about the procurement process and hence posted the information about Mr. Fellows on BC Bid so that all interested vendors are aware of it.”
But NDP leader John Horgan said the public interest is not being served by Fellows having influence on the process.
“That clearly strikes me as a conflict for the existing proponent, and, at the minimum, what they should do is recuse this individual from the selection process and ensure that the deputy minister has sufficient oversight to make sure there’s no conflict from this point on.”
Fellows’ LinkedIn profile, which has not been updated to reflect his government job, said he joined Brookfield GIS as vice-president of operations in February 2004 and was promoted to COO in March 2013.
The Law Courts and Robson Square are among the most prominent Vancouver buildings under the contract. The memo claims the annual value of Brookfield GIS services is $90 million for building operations and maintenance and $40 million to $70 million for project management and construction. Yet public accounts for the four most recent fiscal years show $641.85 million in payments made to Brookfield GIS.
The government outsourced the work to the company in 2004, when it was known as Brookfield LePage Johnson Controls Workplace Services Inc., after five companies were shortlisted. The other four were ATCO Frontec Corp., O&Y-CBRE, SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) and Trammell Crow. Whittier did not disclose Fellows’ salary, but said assistant deputy ministers are paid between $140,000 and $195,000 a year.
Parent Brookfield Asset Management (TSX:BAM) donated $161,400 to the B.C. Liberals between 2006 and 2014.
A heavily censored May 2012 confidential review of the contract by Deloitte, released under Freedom of Information, said the Brookfield deal is a “cost flow-through contract with a management fee component for administration.” Deloitte said there did not appear to be major service quality issues, but staff in mandated ministries were “increasingly less-satisfied with day-to-day O&M service quality.”
Public Works and Government Services Canada chose Brookfield in November 2014 for an eight-year contract to succeed scandal-plagued SNC-Lavalin to operate and maintain 3,800 Crown buildings. The deal, which began March 31, 2015, is worth $9.6 billion and includes an option for an additional six years. •
