The Buyer Flyer Volume 6 / Issue 1 / December 2014 Quarterly Newsletter of The Procurement Community of Practice

Inside This Issue

Can/EU Trade Agreement 8

Office Supply Agreement 9

BC Bid Replacement 12

Queen’s Printer Update 13

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Dec 9, 10:30 a.m. Government’s New Office Supply CSA

Join us for this great webinar to learn about the new agreement

and to get a walk through of how to manage your orders.  

 

Webinar: Jan 13, 10:30 a.m. Guidelines to Procurement:

the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and

Other Trade Agreements Join us for this interesting,

informative webinar on the ins and outs of this historic trade

agreement and what it and other trade agreements mean for government procurement.

A fun session is planned for February (details to come) and

no sessions are planned in March and April due to

year end madness.

1. Yes, you have to use the Corporate Supply Arrangement if one ex-ists that meets your needs (see Core Policy & Procedures Manual section 6.3.2 (a) 1)

2. Any goods purchases over $5,000 must go through PSB (see Core Policy & Procedures Manual section 6.3.2 (b) 1)

3. A purchase card is a payment method, competitive price shopping is still required before making a purchase.

4. Any competitive process for services at or over $75,000 must be posted to BC Bid unless restricted to a Qualified Supplier List that was posted on BC Bid.

5. You cannot direct award a services contract just because the value is under $25,000. Even small dollar contracts must comply with policy for a direct award (see Core Policy & Procedures Manual 6.3.3 (a) 1), or a competitive process is needed, even if it’s just phoning three or more vendors and awarding to the lowest price.

6. Don’t issue a Notice of Intent unless you plan to run a competition if a successful challenge is received (see Core Policy & Procedures Manual 6.3.2 (b) 5 and 6.3.2 (c) 7).

7. You can’t direct award a contract because your current contract is about to expire and the services are essential to life, limb or property – the expiration of the contract was not unforeseen (see Core Policy & Procedures Manual 6.3.3 (a) 1).

8. You can’t hire your favourite vendor just because they are on a Qualified Supplier List; you have to follow the process described in the RFQ to select one of the qualified suppliers.

9. You can’t use another ministry’s Qualified Supplier List or onboard to their contract unless the list or contract specifically states that you can.

10. If you need assistance call Advisory Services at 250 387-7300.

10 Things About Procurement All Ministry Employees Should Know (some of which apply to BPS as well)

We regularly hear from members that people they work with, who are not in procurement may not know some of the basics, so we came up with this easy list.

5 Questions with Duncan McLelland Upcoming Courses

PCMP 201: Contract Management Planning

Dec 2/2014 - Campbell River Jan 14/2015 - Prince George Jan 13/2015 - Victoria

PCMP 202: Contract Solicitation, Award & Monitoring

Dec 23/2014 - Campbell River Jan 15/2015 - Prince George Feb 5/2015 - Victoria

PCMP 203: Administering & Evaluating Contract Performance

Dec 4/2014 - Campbell River Feb 11/2015 - Prince George Feb 6/2015 - Victoria

PCMP 305: Negotiation Skills

Dec 2/2014 - Vancouver Feb 4/2015 - Vancouver Feb 19/2014 - Victoria

PCMP 204: Laws & Ethics for Competitive Procurement Mar 3/2015 - Victoria

PCMP 302: Requests For Proposals

Dec 9/2015 - Vancouver Feb 24/2015 - Victoria

** Many courses are scheduled for January & February for MCF only. Please see the Learning Centre site

Duncan McLelland is the Executive Director, Procurement Services, a position he has held for the past three years. Procurement Services delivers eProcurement & Sourcing, IT Procurement, Procurement Advisory services, and Strategic Acquisition services to its customers in the ministries and broader public sector.

How did you get in to government procurement? I first joined what was then the Purchasing Commission as a UVic Public Administration co-op student in 1982. I sort of had related experience – I’d recently left the Bay where I had managed men’s wear, children’s wear, shoes and women’s fashion accessory departments. Procurement was a whole different world then – staff smoked at their desks, the Internet and BC Bid were still 15 years away, RFPs and services procurement really didn’t get rolling for another ten years, PCards didn’t come into widespread use until the mid-1990s and 1982’s “hot” technologies were fax machines and word processors. But we had a very innovative senior management team and I got in on the ground floor of introducing an eProcurement system which was a great project and opportunity.

What are the scariest aspects of purchasing you have encountered during your years in procurement? Well, there are a few stories I probably shouldn’t mention for publication! But overall, in my experience, procurement in the B.C. government has been undertaken to a high standard of integrity, honesty, professionalism and commitment to public service – the public, suppliers and elected officials can and do have confidence in the process. It is fair, open and transparent.

What interesting issues do you see on the horizon for those in the procurement profession? The pace of change has increased dramatically over my career – technology has a lot to do with this, but globalization has too. So how we do our jobs will continue to constantly change and procurement professionals will need to continuously upgrade their skills and demonstrate they are always adding value and contributing to the achievement of value for money. There are some very exciting developments happening as part of the Procurement Transformation initiative, and more generally within the community. The implications of cloud computing are huge for IT procurement. Senior executive are calling for procurement professionals who are comfortable with ambiguity, can manage rather than avoid risk, who are skilled in negotiation, and are skillful in constructing increasingly complex contracts.

What strengths do you feel a strong procurement team affords their organization? Procurement staff are often viewed as the folks who keep govern-ment “out of the glue” when we’re buying stuff. That’s

Updates/Changes

Concrete Toilet Facilities

There is a new Corporate

Supply Arrangement for pre-fabricated,

wheelchair accessible concrete washroom facilities. These are typically used in Provincial

Parks and roadside rest areas. However,

they may also be used in municipal/rural parks and playgrounds.

See the website.

Looking for a “Picture

Framing” CSA?

You can access the Protocol and

Recognition Program’s

Framing CSA. View the pertinent

information online.

important – we need to run fair, open and transparent processes that are consistent with policy and Canadian contract law. But for me a key point is that as a community we need to demonstrate that we’re more than the “keepers of the process” and instead are seen as the business experts who can assist our colleagues to design contractual arrangements that deliver on government’s value for money goals.

How can we at the Procurement Community of Practice assist you? By continuing to enthusiastically participate and contribute to the Community. The Procurement Community of Practice has over 800 members, which makes it by far the largest community of practice in government – the events and webinars are always well attended and its through your involvement that it will continue to be the vibrant community that it is.

Who should belong to the Procurement Community of Practice (PCoP)?

We have a large representation of public purchasers who belong to PCoP and we hope that their ranks will continue to grow, however, we are missing a contingent that could really benefit from belonging to this organization. Do you have a purchase card?

Do you book hotel rooms or car rentals?

Do you buy any type of goods or services (eg Printing)?

If so, belonging to this Community of Practice will provide you with relevant information through newsletters and webinars.

Contact Deb Owen for information on how to join.

On November 25th, Sol Reeve of the Climate Action Secretariat presented a webinar on Using Strategic Procurement to Advance New Technologies. If you were unable to attend this informative event, you can view a recording of it on the PCoP sharepoint site.

The Climate Action Secretariat supports advancing clean technologies and building green communities and we invite you to view their web pages for fascinating information. Of particular interest to our broader public sector members might be the BC Climate Action Toolkit. The Toolkit website is developed and maintained through a three-way partnership between the Province, the Union of BC Municipalities and Smart Planning for Communities, a program of the Fraser Basin Council.

Climate Action Secretariat Webinar on Using Strategic Procurement to Advance New Technologies

Procurement transformation is a series of projects that are being undertaken that have a cross-government impact on how government acquires goods and services from the market-place. Public commitment to these activities is found in nine of twelve of the recommendations in the Doing Business with Government report. Procurement transformation is being led by Shared Services BC, and is guided by a group of senior ADMs from across government. Several ministry working groups are also involved in activities such as the replacement of BC Bid and the development of a corporate plain language resource for government staff doing procurement.

Procurement transformation is designed to address the following current state challenges:

The disconnectedness of procurement resources and staff that may result in unintended consequences

The complexity of procurement process that may deter people from using it effectively

Focus is frequently not applied to planning and other parts of procurement that maximize value

There are often inadequate skills, resources and tools to manage procurement effectively

The desired outcomes of procurement transformation include:

Reduced barriers for small business so that doing business with government is easier

Increased vendor participation in government procurement opportunities and transparency of procurement information

Decreased costs through automating workflows, and standardization and streamlining of processes and practices

Increased use of corporate agreements, consolidating purchasing power to achieve savings

Increased staff competencies through communities of practice and professional development

Implementation Approach:

To join one of the ministry working groups, or for more information about procurement transformation, please contact Brooke Hayes, Executive Director, Procurement and Business Transformation.

So What Is Procurement Transformation?

Year 1 (14/15): Year 2 (15/16): Year 3 (16/17): Launch the two-page RFP

Implement a small business and ministry outreach program

Complete a Lean project on corporate supply arrangements (CSAs)

Communicate existing and future contract opportunities to vendors

Launch a centrally accessible procurement resource for staff, including information on corporate supply arrangements

Launch a centrally accessible procurement resource for suppliers

Continue project to replace BC Bid with a modern eSourcing solution (see related article in this buyer flyer)

Implement a new approach for welcoming ideas from businesses

Encourage government's larger suppliers to promote opportunities for small businesses

Explore introduction of a supplier management tool

Consider options for an eMarketplace

Explore ways to expand the scope of proactively released contract award summaries

Continue to streamline procurement processes and templates including introduction of a GSA-Lite

T’is The Season For Gifting, Once Again…..If In Doubt, Just Say No

As public employees, we can be faced with those sticky situations we call conflicts of interest. This is especially true during the holiday season. We select goods and services from our suppliers on the basis of predetermined criteria (eg. quality and price). Our decisions in dealing with our suppliers cannot be influenced by gifts, personal relationships, hospitality or anything else of value, nor should they be perceived to be. However, at this time of year, gifts and generous hospitality are not in short supply.

Review your organizations Standards of Conduct. If, after reading the Standards and consulting with your supervisor, you are still in doubt as to whether to accept a gift, don’t! The vendor will understand. And then you can get on to enjoying that holiday spirit!!

Do you ship or courier daily, weekly or monthly? Are you getting the best rate available? Is the service standard matching the requirement?

BC Mail Plus has negotiated and procured multiple cost effective courier contracts so you don’t have to. The MyShip family of services, available only through BC Mail Plus, offer significant savings, boasting a 35 to 50 per cent discount off of the applicable vendors’ posted rates.

While budget conscious spending is always top of mind, sometimes it’s the right service at the right time that matters more. With multiple vendors to cover your local and provincial shipping requirements, MyShip accounts offer options and savings. Want to get it there fast and know when it got there? Priority or Xpress post courier service from Canada Post may be just what you are looking for. Do you have a heavy or multi-piece shipment that needs to be sent as economically as possible? Purolator Ground would be your best choice. When your courier needs are closer to home, we have our local vendor, Max-imum Express, for the greater Victoria area, and our newest member to the MyShip family: Progressive Messenger serving Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

Great rates and service standard options; can it get any better? Yes!

MyShip accounts are convenient and easy to use:

Offering online shipping tools including address books, shipping summaries as well as the ability to create shipping labels and track your shipments right from your desk.

Estimating and shipping can be done right from your computer.

Schedule your shipment to be picked up when it works for you.

Use one of the vendors, or all of them as there are no minimums.

Billing and payment done via BC Mail Plus rather than multiple vendors.

Let us help you make your shipping dollar go further. Sign up for one or all today and start saving!

As part of the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Servies, BC Mail Plus is the Corporate Supply Arrangement for core government ministries. BC Mail Plus Services are also available to the broader public sector.

BC Mail Plus Offers Competitive Rates On Courier and Shipping Services

*note: the “Wizard” may be one or more people with the specific expertise for a given question

Question: My contract is about to expire. Can I extend it for another year or do I have to go through another RFP?

Answer: The answer to this question depends on what the original RFP said. Policy allows ministries to enter into multi-year contracts (Core Policy and Procedures Manual (CPPM), section 6.3.3 b 9), which can be expressed as a single term (e.g. three years), or as a term with options to renew (e.g. two years with three one-year options to renew). However, if options to renew or extend are included, the solicitation and the contract must clearly state how many options apply (CPPM 6.3.3 e 10). In other words, you can’t have unlimited options to renew, and use that as the reason to renew year after year.

If your contract includes options to renew that you haven’t yet used, and the vedor’s performance is satisfactory you may renew provided that the extension does not exceed what your original RFP and contract allows you to do. If you either didn’t include any options to renew or you’ve used them already, any extension of your current contract would be viewed as a direct award.

Policy allows for direct awards in defined circumstances (CPPM 6.3.3 a 1); if your contract meets one of the criteria listed, document this for the contract file and go ahead with your extension. Keep in mind,

however, that if your contract is for services that are not critical to protect life, limb or property, you cannot define your circumstances as an unforeseen emergency (one of the reasons to allow a direct award), as you should have known the expiry date of your contract. If none of the reasons for a direct award apply, then policy requires you to compete the opportunity. Requests for Proposals are just one of the options available for you though.

Check out the Guidelines for the Selection of Solicitation Processes and Templates found at www.pss.gov.bc.ca/procurementplanning.html for information on the different types of templates available.

Webinar Recordings

We record most of the monthly webinars

and members can access them to view at their leisure from the

PCoP sharepoint site. Broader Public Sector members will need a BCeID to be able to

access the sharepoint. Contact Deb Owen at

debbie.owen@gov.bc.ca for instructions.

Some of the current recordings include:

Thresholds & Options

Risk Management in Contracts

Procurement & Contract Records

What to do when your well planned procurement goes sideways

Partnership, Procurement & Risk Management

Employee/Employer Relationships— Crossing the Line with Contractors

Short Form RFP

Lessons Learned in the K-12 Education Sector

My Procurement meets BCBid

Intellectual Property Program

BC Bid Tutorials

Do you have something to post on the BC Bid website? Learn how to post opportunities, amendments, contract awards and more! New and experienced users will want to bookmark these pages of instructions and FAQs.

Ask The Procurement Wizard*

Does Your Program Require Training?

In May of this year, the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services (Procurement Services Branch), on behalf of the Province of British Columbia, invited interested parties to submit responses to Request for Corporate Supply Arrangement (RCSA) # ON-002512 for the provision of Training and Curriculum Development Services.

The objective of this RCSA was to augment the current list of courses and vendors and to enhance our ability to deliver training already in place as a result of the previous RCSAs #ON-002285 and #ON-002101.

Currently the Province has CSAs in place for Training and Curriculum Services which is comprise five separate service areas (Service Areas):

1. Training Delivery Consultants (Service Area 1);

2. Live Presentation Curriculum Developers (Service Area 2);

3. On-line Self-Directed Learning Curriculum Developers (Service Area 3);

4. Pre-existing Live Presentation Courses (Service Area 4); and

5. Pre-existing On-line Self-Directed Courses (Service Area 5).

This RCSA has resulted in approximately 40 new vendors available to provide Training and Curriculum Development Services to the ministries and those broader public sector organizations who have signed up for CSA access. A listing with new and existing vendors is available to view on the CSA web page .

Contract Opportunities—Advance Notice

Vendors interested in doing business with the Province can now hear about potential upcoming opportunities in advance of them being posted on BC Bid. The Contract Opportunities Advance Notice list is in alignment with recommendation #3 in the public Doing Business with Government report to “implement a strategy to communicate about existing and future contract opportunities likely of interest to small businesses”. The list of known supply arrangements and their expiry dates extends over a rolling three year window, and is circulated quarterly to Procurement Council members for updates. If you have supply arrangements that will be expiring in the next three years and want to provide proactive notice to the vendor community about these opportunities, please contact Ann Smith to have your arrangement added to the list.

You might have

noticed some

changes…

The Procurement

Services Branch (PSB) web pages for Corporate

Supply Arrangements

are, individually, going through

updating to the new Gov 2.0

style, in preparation for the launch of “BCBid the Resource”

(Yes, that is the project also

known as “MyProcurement” ).

Feel free to take a look at

the new pages that are linked from the main CSA page

(currently at this location ) We will be

updating that main CSA listing

page itself in the near future but don’t worry, the old page will redirect to the new one.

Procurement of Ministries Crown Corpo-rations

Municipalities, Academia,

Social Services, Health

New West Partnership Trade Agreement

Goods $10,000 $25,000 $75,000

Services $75,000 $100,000 $75,000

Construction $100,000 $100,000 $200,000

Agreement on Internal Trade Goods $25,000 $500,000 $100,000

Services $100,000 $500,000 $100,000

Construction $100,000 $5,000,000 $250,000

CETA (not yet in effect) Goods $309,100 $548,700 $309,100

Services $309,100 $548,700 $309,100

Construction $7,700,000 $7,700,000 $7,700,000

*Under CETA, goods and services thresholds for the utilities sector, the threshold is $618,000 (for all governments)

CUSPA/GPA (updated every two years)

Goods $548,700

Not covered Services $548,700

Construction $7,700,000

The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)

In September 2014, Canada and the European Union (EU) publicly released the completed text of the CETA, a 21st century trade agreement that covers all aspects of trade in goods and services, including government procurement.

Procurement in the CETA The CETA provides greater access for the Province’s suppliers of goods and services to the EU $2.7 trillion procurement market. For Canadian procure-ment, CETA includes government procurements of ministries, Crowns and mu-nicipal governments. The thresholds are much higher than in existing domestic trade agreements such as the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (see comparative table below). For further information on procurement obligations of domestic and international agreements, please visit the Guidelines to the Pro-curement Obligations of Domestic and International Trade Agreements and the Government of Canada’s website of existing procurement thresholds: (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/ContPolNotices/2013/13-5-eng.asp).

A final legal review, translation, and ratification are expected to take between 12 and 18 months, with the CETA estimated to take effect in 2016. For further detail, please visit the Government of Canada CETA website and the CETA text.

Risk comes from not

knowing what you are

really doing.

- Warren Buffet

New Office Supply Agreement

As many of you have heard, the Distribution Centre Victoria (DCV) will no longer be warehousing and distributing office products and supplies for core government and the broader public sector. Through the RFP process, a new Master Standing Agreement (MSA) is now in place with Staples Advantage, commencing January 2, 2015.

1. Do I have to order products through Staples Advantage? Ministries: Yes, ministries are required by core policy manual section 6.3.2 to use this agreement for purchase off office products. Current CSAs with grand & Toy and Monk Office Supply expire December 31, 2014. Broader Public Sector: No, but your organization is welcome to onboard this agree-ment to receive negotiated pricing. Your CFO or Procurement Coordinator can contact Leslie Walden by email or phone 250 952-4561 for further information.

2. How do I set up an account? Ministries: As Staples Advantage is strictly an online business (www.eway.ca), all ministry purchases must be made with a government purchasing card. If you do not have a BMO pCard, please contact your ministry Purchasing Card Coordinator. Broader Public Sector: Only those BPS entities that have entered into an agreement with the B.C. government can order from Staples Advantage online shopping cart. To find out if you have an agreement or to set one up contact Leslie Walden. Please note: Staples Advantage has no direct affiliation with Staples.ca, Staples.com or any Staples retail outlet. Negotiated pricing and service delivery is available only through the www.eway.ca online channel.

3. Why did we go to this new out sourced model? The office products market has become more competitive and is well served by the private sector. These companies are able to leverage large volume purchasing, scalability and technology—achieving lower pricing and improved service delivery.

4. What can I expect in the way of delivery times? Delivery times will be next day if orders are received by 4:00 p.m. local time, in most locations. Delivery is free for orders over $50.00. A $5.00 fee will be applied for deliveries under $50.00

5. What products are not included in this contract? Products which are out of scope for this contract include: office furniture, computer hardware and software, audio visual equipment, protocol and giftware, telecommunication equipment, large office equipment and other products not reasonably regarded as stationery or office products. For further information on other CSAs, please see the CSA page.

If you have any further questions, please contact DCV Customer Service at 250 952-4460. If you would like an invitaation to the December 9th free webinar and run through of the Staples Advantage online ordering system (being produced by the Procurement Community of Prac-tice), please contact Deb Owen.

Note: as this agreement gets underway and further questions arise you can watch this site for frequently asked questions (FAQs).

5 Questions with Cray Harris

Cray Harris is currently the Director of Business Development with the Interior Health Authority in Kelowna BC. His department at IHA, “Business Integration and Development”, is responsible for a broad range of Corporate Services, including procurement and administration of a diverse range of contracted Health Care Services. Cray is a CPA with both private and public sector experience.

1. How did you come to join the world of procurement? I worked for the private sector in financial services and manufacturing. My former employer Western Star Trucks, was purchased and operations moved to Portland, Oregon, I had the choice of staying in the beautiful Okanagan or moving to the United States. After some difficult family decisions the “vote” was to stay in Kelowna. I heard about a finance position at Interior Health Authority (IHA) and started with them in November 2002. After a year and half in that role, I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me. Around that time, I had just finished my CMA which included a two year “Strategic Leadership Program” (essentially an MBA program). During the program one of our group business cases was around P3’s (Public Private Partnerships) in health care. That was a key turning point in my career as I was intrigued with the “strategic” side of the P3 model. At the same time (2002) IHA was going through consolidation from a broad range of health councils and regions to what is now one Health Authority with over 16,000 employees and a centralized Corporate Services. This brought the opportunity to join a newly created corporate department which focused on strategic sourcing and procurement -- everything from hospital expansions to residential care and assisted living facilities to surgical services and a wide variety of community care programs. 2. Do you see any similarities between accounting and procurement? My initial thought would be no but this answer takes on a bit of a subjective element for me. What disenchanted me about accounting was simply summarizing what had already happened, where someone else had the drive, strategy and achieves the applicable organizational goals and objectives. Accountants, given our sheer numbers, come in many personality types; some are more suited to accounting given its context of “black and white”. My experience is that most financial types struggle with some of the “challenges or grey areas” of procurement. What I find rewarding about procurement is all the strategic elements and the interaction with a broad range of stakeholders. I like to problem solve and to be creative with solutions negotiation element of procurement. There may be uncertainty and shades of grey in the entire procurement process from definition of scope through to contract signature. I find most financial types are uncomfortable with that much uncertainty, but it’s really a personal thing. I see procurement as being much more actively involved in the entire “lifecycle” of whatever service you may be procuring. I don’t see accounting as really having that strategic element of planning and sourcing followed by implementing and evaluating. It’s very much a different responsibility so I see the similarities as being very limited.

3. What do you see as the biggest procurement challenges you face? There may be common themes with many of the people reading this, but health care will have some specific challenges particularly with the delivery of services. I would think the most significant challenges are:

Obtaining all the required approvals (both internally and externally), the communication material, and the coordination of messaging, as we work often with other government funders and/or other partners

Defining and “agreeing” on scope of services. Clinical people tend to be either very directive or the complete opposite, providing limited details on how services will be provided. They are generally not comfortable with any degree of uncertainty. They tend to have concerns around innovation and trying to provide complex services in non-traditional approaches

Breadth of the marketplace—having enough vendors with the capital, resources (skilled staff) and experience we require for the delivery of services

Ensuring value for money and that the contractors are sustainable Achieving equity between the contractor and IHA services (cost pressure funding) Obtaining strategic information, such as internal benchmarking costs or, where possible, market

intelligence on pricing (one of the most significant differences between the private sector and the public sector….knowing your costs and cost drivers)

Collective Agreements Allowing the contractor the autonomy to perform the scope of services (limiting how “actively

managed” the contractor is by clinical leads and licensing, etc.) 4. What is the most interesting thing you have learned that you might not have thought about before joining our illustrious profession? How complicated and specialized the world of health care is, and the role of procurement professionals within a public agency (constraints and limitations the private sector doesn’t have). If I had to focus on the most “interesting”, it’s how different the relationship is between the private sector and the public sector when it comes to vendor management. For me personally, it brought out a side of me I didn’t really know existed: I certainly didn’t know that I would be challenged by and enjoy all the elements of pulling a deal together. This goes back to what I said earlier about problem solving, negotiation and all the pieces in between. 5. How can we at the Procurement Community of Practice assist you? It’s always nice to have contacts out there in the world of procurement. It’s really beneficial to reach out to someone else who has been through something similar, to look at different ways of doing things and find those who can share expertise on a given subject. Even if it’s someone who works in a completely different area of procurement, they may have insight into strategies they have successfully implemented, that can be implemented to a relevant health care project. Other items would include: a source for templates (so much faster to edit something that already includes key headings and

complies with relevant policies and protocols) a point of contact for -

guidelines relevant areas of government policy (difficult for some of us to get our hands on some of

the subject expertise that already exists) best practice papers or new procurement concepts key contacts for education on procurement recent updates on relevant industry developments

Work is actively underway to investigate options for the replacement of BC Bid. The following provides a summary of the progress to date and next steps:

2014 – Progress to Date

January: A ministry working group was established to help bring the needs and requirements of ministry, corporate and broader public sector users to the BC Bid replacement conversation.

February - June: Request For Information (RFI): To help understand how the marketplace has changed since BC Bid was launched in 1996, a RFI was shared with the marketplace in February, which was followed by 13 vendor demos. It was clear from these demos that the world of eProcurement has evolved dramatically, and that a robust marketplace exists to meet the Province’s needs.

June - September: eSourcing should not be considered independently of the source to contract lifecycle; therefore the next stage of the process was to develop a strategy for the procurement lifecycle through technology (with a focus on the replacement of BC Bid). To do this, Deloitte was selected from a qualified supplier list to: develop high level business requirements (informed by 24 interviews with ministry staff, BPS users and vendors); assess the current and future state maturity model for all stages of the lifecycle; provide recommendations on a roll out approach; research funding models and technology options; and to develop guiding principles for the selection of a future solution.

October: Executive review of the source to contract strategy, including the roll out approach, funding model and next steps.

Next Step for the remainder of 2014

Development of detailed functional requirements that will form part of a competitive procurement process

BC Bid Replacement Project

We want to hear from you!

What are the topics that YOU would like to see covered in future webinars and

Buyer Flyer articles.

Drop Deb Owen a note at Debbie.Owen@gov.bc.ca

Do you want a louder voice in our Community of Practice?

We are seeking 2 more BPS members, preferably representing local

government and health sectors

Steering Committee Members

Derek Cockburn CSCD

Jacoba Corrigal PENC

Liz Lowe MTIC

Duncan McLelland MTIC

Matthew O’Rae FIN

Deb Owen MTIC

Kai Robinson MTIC

Dawn Stewart GCPE

Ian Wind Vcr SB

On Wednesday October 15, government announced that as a result of Core Review the Queen’s Printer will be transitioning to a new business model. From a customer perspective you will not see any difference in service. The Queen’s Printer is still operating as usual. The only change is they will no longer be physically printing orders themselves in-house. Same great service - QP print specialists have always used a mixed model of in-house printing and contracts out to private sector printers and sign producers. Now, they will fulfill all of your orders through contracts with their two hundred plus pre-qualified vendors throughout the province. The QP print specialists have many years’ experience manag-ing print and signage orders of all sizes, including specialized printing. They have an efficient procurement system that is fair, delivers good value and meets the procurement policies required in the BC Public Service. Queen’s Printer has been in operation for 155 years and will continue to support the printing and publishing needs of government with its multi-faceted service offerings – including publishing services, protocol and recognition services, electronic publishing and of course printing and signage – for many years to come.

For more information, or to contact us about a service request, visit the Printing and Signage web page or call 250-387-3309.

Queen’s Printer Operating As Usual