The government could save money at federal prisons if it paid more attention to soaring security costs and the way it buys food and cleaning supplies, says the auditor general.

Security costs at prisons jumped 42 per cent in the six years leading up to and including 2007-08, even though the number of correctional officers and inmates remain the same, said the document, tabled in the House of Commons by Sheila Fraser on Thursday afternoon.

Background provided by the auditor general's office showed overtime costs alone for prison security increased more than 100 per cent over that period to $47 million. Despite that, the audit found the Correctional Service of Canada did no analysis to determine whether overtime was cheaper than hiring additional staff.

In addition, money could be saved with better analysis of the way food and clothing are purchased for federal prisons, the report said. Right now, Fraser reported, the department doesn't calculate the total volume of food and cleaning products that it needs to buy, and it could potentially save money by buying nationally in bulk instead of institution by institution.

Aside from audits on various departments, the report includes a study of how the government distributes money to the provinces and territories, and found many transfers, especially trust funds like $1.5 billion set aside to fight climate change, did not include conditions.

"Where there are no conditions, the provinces and territories have no legal obligation to spend the funds for the purposes intended by the federal government," Fraser said at a news conference.

Fraser found a number of other areas that need improvement:

• Inspections conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to prevent alien plants, pests and diseases from threatening Canada's forestry and farming sectors were backlogged and inconsistent, so sometimes mandatory inspections of high-risk imports weren't conducted. Fraser noted that the agency's current paper-based system results in reports being "faxed around the country" and it's not surprising some get lost or misplaced.
• Professional services contracted by Public Works and Government Services Canada were not always managed well. For example, terms sometimes changed or were not enforced, some cases of conflict of interest were discovered and some long-term contracts resulted in relationships that posed a risk of liability for the government.
• Six of eight IT projects audited at the Canada Revenue Agency had serious problems such as flawed business cases and significant time delays and in one $4-million project, the end product "was not accepted by the intended user."
• Health indicators such as wait times provided by Health Canada aren't accompanied by enough interpretation to be valuable to the public.
• Oversight of small federal entities such as those responsible for environmental assessments and transportation safety have trouble meeting the same administrative and reporting requirements as larger departments.

However, the report also says the government did well in some areas. For example, it said, Public Works and Government Services Canada used a fair and open process in awarding contracts, complying with rules in at least 95 per cent of cases.

The report was originally scheduled to be tabled in December but its release was postponed after Parliament was prorogued.