The use of fairness monitors (or fairness commissioners, process monitors) has become more frequent in recent years, and will be an ever-increasing feature in government procurements in the future. Yet, the role of a fairness monitor has developed absent any of the protocols or procedural safeguards one might expect when the goal is to ensure the unquestioned impartiality and integrity of a public procurement process. To some extent, the position itself may import an inherent conflict of interest that may raise concerns about the objectivity and impartiality of the monitor themselves. Consider that in a typical process the fairness monitor is chosen and paid for by the government. Moreover, when a dispute over a procurement process is undertaken to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal or the courts in a case where a fairness monitor oversaw the procurement, the imprimatur of that monitor will be brandished by the government as a sign of the fairness of the solicitation.

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