Tour Guide (Female)

01-01-01

Tour guide (female) OK everyone, we’ve come to the end of our tour of the History branch of the Broader Public Sector Procurement Museum. I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane—does anyone have any questions or comments?

Tour participant (male) I do! I really liked the display that showed how many stakeholders were involved in the development of the original Supply Chain Guideline. I didn’t know that the government consulted with so many people!

Tour guide (female) Well, it was the stakeholders’ best practices in supply chain management that were first expressed as a guideline and then was later transformed into the Directive. Stakeholders have played—and continue to play—a key role in the ongoing standardization of procurement activities in the broader public sector.

Tour participant (male) So the whole idea is to ensure more clarity and transparency in publicly funded supply chain activities?

Tour guide (female) Absolutely. The intent of the Directive, like the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, is to ensure more openness, fairness and transparency in broader public sector organizations.

Tour participant (male) So how can you be sure that organizations are actually following the Directive? Well, the Directive is very clear about how to achieve compliance. There are two parts: 25 mandatory procurement requirements and a mandatory Supply Chain Code of Ethics that BPS organizations have to adopt.

Tour participant (male) Good to know—and thank you for the tour. Supply chain practices sure have come a long way! 02-01-01

Procurement professional #1 (female) Hello. My name is Helena. I’m with a hospital here in Ontario. How are you enjoying the conference so far?

Procurement professional #2 (male) I’m Colin, nice to meet you. It’s been interesting, thanks. I’ve just been hired by the school board and they sent me here to learn about more about procurement in the public sector. It looks like we have our work cut out for us, implementing all these new mandatory requirements.

Procurement professional #1 (female) Well, Colin, that may not be the case. For one, they’re not really new. The Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive strengthens the previous Supply Chain Guideline, which had suggested best practices for public sector organizations across the province, and aligns to the trade agreements, which those organizations should have already been following. The Directive just made those suggested practices mandatory, that’s all.

Procurement professional #2 (male) I didn’t know that, thanks. Like I said, I’m new to the job so I’m not really familiar with the history of the rules. Still, it sounds like a lot of work, following 25 mandatory requirements for every procurement we do.

Procurement professional #1 (female) Every organization is different, of course, but we found that when the Directive came into force, we already had most of the policies and procedures in place. Procurement practices have been evolving for some time now, and all we really had to do was add three or four processes and tweak what we had already been doing. We’re in compliance now, and it wasn’t as onerous as we thought it would be.

Procurement professional #2 (male) That’s reassuring. So if I understand correctly, the Directive requires compliance in two parts: the 25 mandatory procurement requirements and a mandatory Supply Chain Code of Ethics. I’m sure we’re close, if not already there. On that note, it looks like the break is over. Enjoy the rest of the conference, and thanks for the chat. 03-01-01Supplier #1 (male) Hey Stan, how’s it going? I haven’t seen you since that vendors’ meeting last month. We haven’t heard anything since we submitted our proposal. Do you guys know who won the bid?

Supplier #2 (male) Nice to see you too, Tomas. Let me get that coffee for you, my treat. It just so happens that our company will be doing some big business soon, if you know what I mean.

Supplier #1 (male) What…you mean to say your firm got the contract? That’s funny, we haven’t been notified of the results yet. Management keeps asking me for updates. In this economy, we sure could use the work.

Supplier #2 (male) Well, yes, it’s true that the results haven’t been released yet…at least publicly. Luckily for us, my colleague’s wife works at the organization, and she may have let slip to my buddy that our proposal came in with the highest score. We’ll wait for the official announcement to issue our press release, of course, but we’re already starting to ramp up so that we can hit the ground running.

Supplier #1 (male) Well, that’s great for you guys. Congratulations. I can’t say the same for the process. I thought this whole Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive was supposed to avoid this kind of thing. Insider information isn’t exactly open and transparent…or fair, either. As I understand it, the Directive requires compliance in two parts: the 25 mandatory procurement requirements and the mandatory Supply Chain Code of Ethics. I’m not sure that’s the case here.

Thanks for the coffee, though. 04-01-01

Procurement specialist #1 (male) OK everyone, the results of our evaluation of the proposals for consulting services are in. We’ve tallied up the scores for the rated requirements, and the winner is…(drumroll please) …Words to the Wise Inc.!

Procurement specialist #1 (female) Really? I’ve never heard of that group. Are you sure they came in first?

Procurement specialist #1 (male) Yes, I’ve checked all of our scores twice and three times, and the proposal from Words to the Wise has a significantly higher score than the number-two bidder, the Value Added Consortium.

Procurement specialist #1 (female) Do you think we should go with an unknown entity for this file? You know how sensitive it is. Maybe we should revise our scores so that Valued Added comes out on top. We can all agree on our preferred outcome.

Procurement specialist #1 (male) No, absolutely not. The bid with the highest score that meets all the mandatories must be declared the winner. Besides, each member of this evaluation team has your own scoring. There is not “consensus” score at the end.

Procurement specialist #1 (female) Yes, but we don’t know if this new group can do the job as well as Value Added can.

Procurement specialist #1 (male) Well, we cannot and will not change the evaluation criteria once the competition has been closed and the bids have been opened.

Procurement specialist #1 (female) I suppose Words to the Wise did put in an excellent proposal and everything checks out. I guess we’ll have to go with them.

Procurement specialist #1 (male) Yes, we do. Not only do we have to document our evaluation results, we have to abide by them. It’s all set out in the Procurement Directive, which requires compliance in two parts: 25 mandatory procurement requirements and a mandatory Supply Chain Code of Ethics. You should review the requirements related to Evaluation Criteria: they are clear and specific, which makes following them all the easier. Now then, everyone, I’d like to thank you for your work on this RFP: we did it by the books, and I’m sure the results will be just as exemplary. 05-01-01

Executive Director (male) …and that concludes my Executive Director’s report for this quarter. As you can see, we are moving ahead quickly on our renovation project, which means that we are closer to reaching our goal of serving our clients better.

Chairperson (female) Thank you, Karl. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to extend our thanks for your hard work, and that of the entire staff. Construction is complicated, and some of us on the Board can attest to the bumpy road these initiatives can sometimes take.

Executive Director (male) Thank you for your confidence, Madam Chair. I will share your support with the entire team after this meeting. They’ve been working hard to ensure that we’re getting value for our money in a timely fashion. In fact, we’ve lined up all our approvals so that work can begin as scheduled.

Chairperson (female) Well now, Karl, that raises an interesting question. You say that you’ve lined up all your approvals for this file? I’ll ask my fellow board members to correct me if I’m mistaken, but we haven’t approved the contracts yet.

Executive Director (male) That’s correct, Madam Chair. To expedite the process, our procurement staff have arranged the work in smaller contracts to be able to proceed without the Board’s formal approval. I will continue to keep you updated, as I have today, but our internal approval authority schedule allows for senior management to sign off on the smaller value procurements.

Chairperson (female) Hmmm. It seems to me, Karl, that the Procurement Directive you presented to us last year states explicitly that broader public sector organizations like ours should avoid contract splitting to circumvent approval authorities. Am I to understand that we have been engaging in a bit of…how shall I put this, “creative” supply chain management?

Executive Director (male) Ahem, I wouldn’t go as far as to say our project management has been creative, Madam Chair. We are simply committed to meeting our project milestones, and an efficient internal decision-making process allows us to do just that. Chairperson (female)I’m not sure I like what I’m hearing, Karl. The Board is responsible for ensuring that this organization is in compliance with all provincial legislation, which includes the Procurement Directive. I am going to ask my colleagues here for guidance on this matter, as I believe that we don’t have all the information we require to do our due diligence on this file. As you know, the Directive requires compliance in two parts: 25 mandatory requirements and a mandatory Supply Chain Code of Ethics, and we intend to be in compliance.