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Nova Scotia’s auditor general says the province’s health authority has not followed rules around the use of public contracts without competitive bids.
Kim Adair’s new report says that since 2020 Nova Scotia Health has awarded more than $3.7-billion worth of sole-sourced contracts, referred to as alternative procurement.
She says alternative procurement can lead to higher costs, unfavourable contract terms and an overreliance on a single vendor.
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Adair’s report examined six sole-sourced health contracts and found that important terms and conditions were missing and four of the contracts contained “weak” justifications for the use of alternative procurement.
In one of the six contracts, the provincial health authority paid out a vendor for work involving international nurses before the agency had approved a contract with that vendor.
Adair says government agencies must have clear justifications for tendering contracts without competitive bids and those contracts must be approved before money is paid out.
The health agency says it is implementing Adair’s recommendations but notes that her report did not find any real or perceived conflicts of interests involving the contracts.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
