Smiling is Contagious. Try it!

May 30, 2019

It has been a spring that many will say there was nothing to smile about. It was cold, rainy and dark. From all the rain we have beautiful green lawns and flowers starting to bloom. Again there are many people in parts of the world that are not smiling with all the rain causing flooding and destruction. I wanted to take this opportunity to write about smiling and how contagious it may be in our workplace and for our clients.

Some people are always smiling, cheerful, and they seem to brighten up a room. Their positive attitude and gusto are identified by those they come in contact with. Moreover, we have all encountered those have the opposite effect on people-the “doom and gloom effect.” we often refer to one’s attitude and yet what is that? It is your mental state or the position you take regarding life.

Zig Ziglar once said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” If you take the word “OPPORTUNITYISNOWHERE,” some people see the “no where” while others see “now here.” So is the glass half empty or half full? Often the difference between success and failure is not linked to how we look, how we dress, or how much education we have; it is based on how we think!

Great leaders share the same thought; knowing that a positive attitude is contagious. As leaders, it is vital that we display a positive mindset daily. After all, if we expect our employees to express positive attitudes, we should model such behaviours for them to see.

Each day we have a choice of whether we elect to display a positive or negative attitude. Daily, we encounter negative attitudes at work and in our personal lives. If you remain positive amongst pessimism, you can be contagious.

Some times it is not that easy. I have found some tips I would like to share to help you be positive from “Attitudes are Contagious. Is Yours Worth Catching” by Patti Wanamaker.

Be enthusiastic – people love to be around enthusiastic people. Enthusiasm is contagious and draws others to you like a magnet.
Associate with positive people – if you want to stay positive, stay away from people that drag you down. Associate yourself around like-minded people.
Smile – smiling makes it all better. Smiling releases endorphins and serotonin, which are known as the feel-good hormones. It is a lot easier to adopt a positive attitude when you feel good!
Change your thoughts – positive thoughts lead to a positive attitude, while negative thoughts lead to an adverse reaction.
Stop complaining – limit your complaints. Whining and griping about anything and everything will not create a positive attitude. When you are complaining, you are spreading negativity.

· If you want more success in your leadership role and to have a positive impact on your employees, then make sure your attitude is worth catching.

Many of you are thinking, what is there to smile about, and why maintain a positive attitude when there are doom and gloom around us? Research has shown that there are health benefits of smiling in the workplace. We are dealing with conflict, mental health issues and have difficult situations arising every day as we manage our workplace. Interestingly many years ago, it was declared that “the smile is the best medicine for the happiness of humanity.” Later scientific research explained the effects and physiological benefits of smiling for a healthier life. Smiling can be beneficial, in dealing with illness, pressures of everyday life, stress at work, and smiling can even substantially change the quality and forecasts of our lives.

Would life not be better if people smile regularly? I think smiling every day would keep you away from the doctor and feeling self-confident. Try these:

By smiling, we can reduce the level of stress hormones. Smiling helps us to increase the number of antibody-producing cells and improve the effectiveness of other cells.
Smiling is good for our general health. Smiling 100 times is equivalent to ten minutes of rowing or cycling in fifteen minutes.
Sometimes we just want to laugh or cry. That means you want to release all the pent feelings in your head, making you feel both physically and mentally better. So to reduce anxiety smile often, even when you are not happy. Smiling at others will, in turn, help them be happy.
Smiling can take you from being angry, stressed, feeling guilty, and negative to putting you in a more favourable frame of mind. Smiling will make you change yourself and improve the attitudes and thinking to other people to the better.
When people can view an event that may be frightening as funny, they may be able to feel more content and see the events occurred just merely as a “challenge” in life, rather than a threat.

There are times when smiling, and laughter can be contagious. If you smile more than you can make other people around you also smile more. So by smiling yourself, you can reduce the stress levels of people around you and change their moods. Maybe even improve the quality of social interaction, and reduce your stress level as well.

They say that optimists have a stronger immune system and can fight disease better than the pessimists. There is a link between a positive attitude and good health, which is measured in many different ways. In general, researchers have discovered that optimistic people are more healthy, and they have a stronger immune system.

According to the British Organization of Dental Health, a smile has the level of stimulation as eating 2000 chocolate bars.

A smile does not cost you a cent, and it is easy to spread. A recent study showed that preschool children laugh 400 times a day, but the time we reach adulthood, we just laugh an average of 17 times per day.

So take the challenge and smile more often and find things in your lives that you can laugh about.

Stay great and healthy.

Monika B. Jensen PhD is Principal of the Aviary Group and can be contacted by email at [email protected]

A reverse what….?

May 16, 2019

As a steward of taxpayer dollars, municipal buyers face tremendous pressure to get the best price for your organization. This keeps the tax burden low amid always tight budgets. The mantra often heard is “do more with less”. Often the “best price” isn’t always the “lowest price.” You need the most qualified vendors to give you their lowest possible price, and you need to settle on those prices quickly.

You are already relying on your purchasing staff and group organizations, to ensure the vendors you select are qualified. Are you aware that you can now take savings to a whole new level with Electronic Reverse Auctions? A “reverse what?” you say….

The term “Electronic Reverse Auction” or “ERA” may not be known to you now but it is a tool that every municipality in Canada will be hearing more of as it becomes a standard part of the municipal procurement tool kit.

The traditional procurement tool kit in Canada consists of tenders and RFPs that function under the notion that bidders get one chance to give you a price which is sealed in an envelope and opened later by the purchasing staff. Once the envelopes are opened, changes cannot be made to the price and the lowest price bidder is duly rewarded, either with the contract outright or by being assigned the most points for that criteria if there are other criteria to consider. What is generally believed is that we received the best possible price…..only we do not have any way of knowing if bidders collectively would have bid lower, had they been given the opportunity to make further reductions in price. We may have gotten the best value that was offered but buyers are left to wonder if we received true market value. Many in the municipal sector are familiar with the terms “municipal premium” or “public sector premium”, usually spoken of in whispers and behind closed doors. We often think that it would have been much less expensive if we were buying the same thing for a private sector organization. A buyer in the private sector likely would have been able to, or even encouraged to, negotiate a better deal.

What if municipal buyers did not have to take the first and only offers presented? What if they could negotiate with the qualified suppliers in a fast, fair and honest way? Could suppliers be allowed to reduce their bid, if they felt it was in their best interest, in order to secure the public contract.

Until recently, this type of scenario was not realistic in Canada in the public sector, but that has now changed. In 2017 the Canadian Free Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement both came into effect. These trade agreements, for the first time, explicitly recognize electronic reverse auctions as a legitimate public procurement method in Canada and include provisions to govern their use in public sector procurement.

While this is a new development in Canada, reverse auctions have been recognized internationally for many years in leading standards like the United Nations Model Law on Public Procurement as well as the European Union Procurement Directive. Countries around the world, including the US, UK, and Australia, have successfully used reverse auction in municipal procurement for the past two decades with significant savings in a variety of categories of spend.

An Electronic Reverse Auction (ERA) is an online, real-time purchasing technique which involves the presentation by suppliers of successively lowered bids during a scheduled period of time and the automatic evaluation of bids. A reverse auction can be configured in two ways that align with the traditional procurement process: 1) as the entire competition when price is the only criteria and the winner is the lowest bid at the end of the electronic auction; or 2) as the second stage in a two-stage competition when other quality-based criteria have already been evaluated, in which case the winner is the supplier judged to have the highest overall evaluated bid.

Respected Canadian public procurement lawyer, Paul Emanuelli, stated in his recent whitepaper, Electronic Reverse Auctions: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions, published in 2018:

“The question is no longer whether ERAs can or should be used…. The question is how much further can ERAs be expanded across all sectors, …., to achieve improved process efficiencies and cost savings.”[1]

Emanuelli goes on to recommend that “organizations interested in implementing ERAs should take the following seven steps:

1. Adopt legally vetted Negotiable RFP templates with ERA protocols

2. Update to ERA‐friendly policies and procedures

3. Develop an industry strategy to select the right projects

4. Create a rollout plan to control internal deployment

5. Ensure appropriate internal training and awareness

6. Get initial launch support from experienced advisors

7. Develop a plan for self‐sufficient long‐term use”

For Canadian municipalities, ERA’s represent an opportunity to reduce spending in a disciplined and strategic way. While not fool-proof and certainly not applicable to all purchasing categories, when ERA’s are strategically used, you can expect to generate savings of 8-20% depending on the category. What kind of impact would that level of savings have on your organization?

Qualified vendors. Lowest prices. Best use of taxpayer dollars. That’s what you get from a reverse auction.

To learn more please contact Craig Milley at Wayfinder Consulting Inc. – Your Procurement & Supply Chain Guide

[email protected]

250-882-4955

https://www.wayfinderconsultinginc.com

[1] Page 34; http://procurementoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/Paper-Electronic-Reverse-Auctions.pdf

New Partnership for muniSERV!

January 21, 2019

You already know muniSERV.ca offers a full suite of tools for municipalities – most of which are free.

But, we’re always on the hunt for even more new and innovative tools and resources to help Canadian municipalities – and we’ve found another perfect partner!

We’re pleased to announce that muniSERV.ca has entered into a partnership with GoByDesign, for their innovative new platform – BoxOfDocs, The Ultimate Sharing Platform For Canadian Municipalities.

Whether you are updating your existing bylaws or policies, or looking to develop new standards, and want to see what similar municipalities have in place, BoxOfDocs is here to help.

*Bonus Partnership Offer

Now, when you register for free on muniSERV, you can also activate your Free Trial of the BoxOfDocs, Municipal Premium Membership, which lets you effortlessly share documents with other Canadian municipalities and gives you with access to thousands of documents your municipality uses daily!

If you have not committed to being an active member for either muniSERV or BoxOfDocs yet, now is a great time to join both and network with other Canadian municipalities to take advantage of valuable tools and services offered under this new partnership.

Welcome BoxOfDocs!

Susan Shannon

Founder & Principal,

muniSERV & muniJOBS

Top 4 Considerations to Save Money When Improving Citizen Services

September 11, 2018

By checking your own internal bias you stand a better chance of Finding the best solution

We all want to better our citizens’ services but, when pursuing this goal, what can we do to ensure we are spending the right amount of money on the right plan? The only way is to look at your citizens, your goals and what you currently have to achieve the right balance between spend and results.

Here are four areas you should consider to make sure you are getting the most for your money.

1. Understand first.

· When creating any plan, the first action should be to understand the needs and wants of your target. Not all people will have the same issues as you. The only way to know is to ask your citizens, listen intently and believe them. This is particularly true when you think you have solved certain issues already.

· In modern agile technology development, the practice is to rely on the” voice of the customer”. This is to ensure when the product is complete it meets the needs expressed by the potential buyer. The same is true in finding the best solution for your citizens.

· Remind yourself that you are not the citizen. Assume that you do not really know anything about your citizens’ needs. This way you will not try to prove your bias right or dismiss some expressed citizen needs as “not important” or “already solved”.

2. Look at what you have today.

· Look at the processes you have today that are at the heart of any of the issues identified by your citizens (e.g. a citizen is not notified when an issue is fixed – perhaps because a work order is lost after a job is completed so there is no record of it being closed). Ask yourself what vehicles, tools, and processes you are using to meet your “citizen service goals”.

· Are you using your website to get information out? Do you have posters in community gathering spaces? Do you have a section every week in the local paper? Do you have a CiRM or a spreadsheet to track issues? Do you have a written policy that helps all staff to address citizen issues quickly? Do any of these create or solve the issue expressed by your citizens? These types of questions are key to success.

3. List all potential solutions.

· Improving citizen services may not require buying new hardware or software and spending a bundle on installation and configuration. A successful solution, regardless of how great it is, may very well need to be coupled with bettering an internal process. Or maybe it is a simple matter of increasing the awareness of your website or creating posters to inform citizens about how you do things and why. It might also be possible to improve services by repurposing technologies that you already have in hand (e.g. using your CRM in a unique way or changing access permissions so more people can answer the questions posed by citizens).

· Listing solutions should not be an excuse to try to make current software do things it was not meant to do. Look at the process you want to have first then find the solution that best fits it.

· Do not be afraid to look at human resource factors. Maybe the answer is to better train staff in citizen resolution or conflict management (customer service skills). Maybe you need to ensure that all staff members know your policies and how they should be implemented.

4. Consider technology solutions by task, not product name.

· List your “service goals” and rate the importance of each of one. The best way is to break down your list into the following columns: “must have”, “good to have” and “nice to have”.

· If you think that technology might solve some of the issues, list only the “service goals” you want your software to address, i.e. not what features or what brand will be the best solution.

· Remember the technology may not need to be citizen facing to increase satisfaction. It might just enable an improvement in your processes to offer better, faster and more reliable citizen services.

If you consider these four areas, you will likely find a solution with that best fits your budget, and that will have the largest impact on your citizens. By checking your own internal bias, you stand a better chance of making sure the right process, tracking and communication methods (internal or external) are part of your change, and the costs may well be less than you thought.

At AccessE11 we understand that paper systems and endless email chains are not productive when it comes to citizen services and support. There are too many opportunities for an issue to fall through the cracks, or for delays in responses to issues.

We promote instilling processes that make sense and that are easy to adopt so that everyone in the municipality can become a citizen support expert. Please visit us at www.accesse11.com to find out more.

Dealing with Escalated Situations in Your Workplace

November 20, 2017

Resolving workplace conflict is an expected part of the job managers and Human Resource Practitioners. Whether you work in education, healthcare, human services, business, or any field, you might deal with angry, hostile, or noncompliant behaviour every day. Your response to the defensive reaction is often the key to avoiding a physical confrontation with someone who has lost control of their behaviour.

These ten De-Escalation Tips will help you respond to challenging behaviour in the safest, most efficient way possible.

Be empathetic and non-judgmental
Respect personal space
Use non-threatening nonverbal communication
Avoid overacting
Focus on feelings
Ignore challenging questions
Set limits
Choose wisely what you insist upon
Allow silence for reflection
Allow time for decisions

To help you towards more efficient conflict de-escalation and resolution, the following basic steps can be followed:

Obtain the name of the person with whom you are speaking: People respond favourably to their own name. It also makes the conversation more personal. Ask for the person’s name early in the piece and use it throughout the discussion.
Use Active Listening: Clarifying, paraphrasing and using open-ended questions ensure that the individual you are speaking with knows you are aware of their situation and frustrations. Resaying a person’s own words back to them demonstrates that you have understood entirely what they were trying to say.
Show support and suspend judgement: Empathy needs to be shown during conflict situations. Respecting the other person’s point of view even if you do not agree entirely will be the first step to resolving the conflict.
Get them to agree and say yes: Having the person agree with you on general factual points leads the conversation towards a more favourable outcome. If you can show that you have understood their point of view by making clarifying statements you generate a state where the other person must reply with an affirmative response. The sooner you can get the person to say yes then sooner the conflict will de-escalate. It always works.
Avoid clichés: The worst of these being “Calm Down”. Did you ever notice how people who tell you to calm down are the ones who got you mad in the first place? Saying those words during a verbal conflict usually gets the classic retort “I AM CALM” very loudly usually with an animated hand gestures as well.
Show empathy: You need to show compassion and understanding and give the conflict your full attention. Do not make impulsive decisions. Take the time to work through the problem.
Consistency in Courtesy: The person you are dealing with first thing in the morning deserves the same level of respect, civility and patience as the individual you are dealing with at 2 in the afternoon. They warrant the same high level of service and professionalism as the first person you spoke to. You need to maintain that position of positive brand ambassador and an excellent professional service.

There are many physical aspects of being mindful of in conflict situations. It is important always to be aware of features of conflict such as your body language, your emotions, your judgement, and your initial thoughts. Keeping these in mind is essential when trying to de-escalate a problematic situation.

Monika B. Jensen is the principal of the Aviary Group, consulting company that address workplace discord. For more information, visit www.aviarygroup.ca

What’s a GPO and Why Should You Care?

September 5, 2017

What’s a GPO and Why Should You Care?

A group purchasing organization, or ‘GPO’, is an entity whose fundamental purpose is to allow its members to combine their purchasing power to benefit from volume pricing for goods and services. In addition to reduced prices, buying through a GPO can shorten the procurement cycle, save staff time and help entities avoid the risks associated with a public procurement process.

In Canada, GPOs have become significant players in the health care and education sectors. Beyond these sectors however there appears to be scarce take-up for GPOs and one has to ask why?

Perhaps it’s because of the historical lack of clarity around whether public procurement rules allow public sector entities to use GPOs. The Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) only addresses GPOs (which it refers to as “buying groups”) in a cursory fashion in the annexes applicable to Crown corporations and MASH sector entities. Beyond the AIT, it’s rare to find references to GPOs in government procurement frameworks, which creates uncertainty as to their legality or acceptability.

The Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) clarifies the rules around using GPOs, making it easier for public sector entities to add GPOs to their menu of sourcing options. The buying group provisions in the CFTA apply to all covered entities; governments, Crown corporations and MASH sector. When purchasing through buying groups, like the AIT, the CFTA requires that covered entities ensure the procurement process is carried out in accordance with the CFTA but the CFTA introduces an exception to this rule where the entity has little or no control over process. Covered entities using GPOs are required to publish a notice of their participation with a GPO at least annually on their tendering website.

With the CFTA explicitly recognizing the acceptability of using buying groups, procurement officers would be remiss not to explore adding GPOs to their menu of sourcing options. Before doing so, however, it’s important to check with legal counsel to ensure the organization’s procurement framework allows the use of GPOs. If the policy framework allows it, before moving ahead it’s equally important to analyze the pros and cons of using a GPO as there is no ‘one size fits all’ for sourcing options in procurement; GPOs may generate significant benefits for some organizations but not for others.

Watch for future articles on this topic, including the next in this series that examines the pros and cons of using GPs in procurement.

Lise Patry, an instructor with NECI, is a lawyer and former business executive with a strong background in technology and more than 20 years of business and legal experience in the public and private sectors. As principal of Patry Law, in addition to general law, she offers virtual counsel services and specialized expertise in contracts, licensing, government procurement and corporate governance. She can be reached in Ottawa at 613-833-7488 or [email protected].

Readers are cautioned not to rely upon this article as legal advice nor as an exhaustive discussion of the topic or case. For any particular legal problem, seek advice directly from your lawyer or in-house counsel. All dates, contact information and website addresses were current at the time of original publication.

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041 Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

[email protected]

Leadership in Supply Chain

August 31, 2017

by Larry Berglund, SCMP, MBA, FSCMA

Presentations Plus Training & Consulting Inc.

Ideas are easy. Implementing them is the challenge.

Leadership in organizational structures is fleeting. Leaders take on the tough tasks and provide a vision and direction for attaining their goals. Managers follow the plan and try to insert efficiencies along the way. In supply chain management we often use the term “leading practices” when in actuality, we are referring to common practices across a sector.

When one organization continues to issue competitive bidding process for services, following the practices of its peers, we consider this to be following a leading practice. When another organization is first in its sector to adopt a vested outsourcing strategy, we are observing leadership in action

Leaders are not satisfied with the status quo. The need to drive innovation is inherent in every leader and thus every industry. Followers value leadership because while they can perceive when something needs to change, they tend not to accept the professional and personal risks associated with driving that change.

Change is perhaps the only true constant – but leaders must articulate a vision before real change can happen. Such a vision does not necessarily come from a brief and illuminating epiphany, but more often from leaders’ abilities to perceive that which is beyond the noise in the market or the confusion in the messages. Leaders instead appreciate nuances during the discovery and presentation of new ideas while accepting a reasonable level of risk. Leaders are also not too humble to draw from successful ideas of others and give credit where due.

What makes a person a leader? First, it is their self-conviction in knowing what needs to be done and their commitment to following that goal. They realize when it is beyond their personal resources to reach their goals without the commitment of others. A leader is less concerned with the how of change, allowing for their followers to utilize their own ideas and energy for carrying out that change. A leader is more focused on the why of change.

Leaders paint the picture of the future and have their audience – their followers – understand how their roles can complement the vision. This aspirational aspect of leadership is concurrent with the inspirational communications within the organization and to its external stakeholders.

Leaders need to create the buy-in. Without followers’ commitment to the vision, success is doubtful or compromised. Buy-in requires credibility, a focus on common interests, shared passions, resilience and an emotional connection created by the leader. People need affirmation that a leader is authentic before they will hear the new message. Leaders anticipate both a certain level of resistance and the occurrence of conflicts. They need to listen to concerns and adequately address them in their action plans. A guiding strategy requires an approach in accord with the organization’s values. Changes in behaviour indicating a stronger alignment with the leader’s vision can provide evidence that the buy-in is taking place.

In supply chains, we see these changes in behaviour when leading practices – such as adopting total cost of ownership – replace pursuing the lowest cost; when public organizations utilize the buying power in procurement to positively affect social and economic development; when targets are set to ensure diversity across supply chains; when we see inclusive opportunities for people who face employment barriers; and when value for money exceeds arbitrary budget limits and considers benefits to the community as a whole. That is leadership. Leadership begins when we start to think outside the books.

Larry has been in the supply chain management field as an author, manager, business trainer, academia, and consultant for many years. Larry has worked in both the private and public sectors. Recently he has been co-facilitating NECI eSeminars, classroom sessions, and online modules. His new book, Good Planets are Hard to Buy is now available on Amazon.com

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041 Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

[email protected]

Is it a good idea to add a “this RFx is non-binding” clause in our RFx template?

August 8, 2017

Is it a good idea to add a “this RFx is non-binding” clause in our RFx template?

by Lise Patry, ba sc (chem eng), llb, icd.d, Patry Law

Owners seeking shelter from the legal risks associated with Contract A are increasingly including a clause reading: “this RFx is non-binding and therefore does not create Contract A” into documents that otherwise have the elements of a binding RFx.

Is this a good idea? It certainly seems to be. At common law, no freestanding duty of fairness is owed to bidders in a non-binding RFx process. Seems like a no brainer – if you want to avoid Contract A, just make the RFx non-binding!

How to design a non-binding RFx

Although this strategy makes sense in many cases, keep in mind that whether an RFx is binding or non-binding is matter of substance and not form. Courts will look at a variety of factors to determine whether the parties intended to enter into a binding contract – Contract A – by the submission of a proposal. A statement that “no Contract A is created,” while important, is just one of the many factors courts examine.

The most comprehensive summary of factors courts consider when determining whether the parties intended the process to be binding is from the trial level decision Tercon Contractors v. BC 2006 BCSC 499, and presented as the following list in Topsail Shipping Company Limited v. Marine Atlantic 2013 NLTD 163 (upheld on appeal):

The irrevocability of bids or proposals submitted;
The formality of the process;
Whether bids or proposals are solicited from selected parties;
Whether the identity of bidders or proponents is confidential;
Whether there is a deadline for the submission of bids or proposals;
Whether a security deposit is required;
Whether bid or proposal selection or evaluation criteria are specified;
Whether there is a right to reject proposals;
Whether there was a statement that this was not a tender call;
Whether the work or service for which proposals are submitted will definitely proceed;
Whether compliance with specifications was a condition of bids or proposals;
Whether there is a duty to award contract ‘B’;
Whether contract ‘B’ had specific conditions not open to negotiation.

Generally, the more formality there is in the process, the more it points to an intention to conduct a binding RFx. As we saw in the case of Topsail, even if many of the above criteria point to a non-binding process, courts will often strain to conclude a process was legally binding in order to hold an owner accountable for unfair conduct. Therefore, to successfully avoid Contract A, owners are advised to design a process that is clearly non-binding having regard to all of the above factors.

Can a “this RFx is Non-Binding” statement, on its own, effectively negate Contract A?

When determining whether an RFx is binding, courts will strive to respect the parties’ intention and will look at the express and implied terms of the RFx in the context of the above list of factors. The insertion of a “this is a non-binding RFx and no Contract A is created” clause, as highlighted above, will help support an argument that the RFx was intended to be non-binding, but is not in itself determinative. As we have seen with privilege and disclaimer clauses, even in the face of clear RFx provisions protecting the owner, courts may refuse to enforce the clauses when to do so would compromise the integrity of the tendering process. Since a non-binding RFx provision is really just another type of disclaimer clause, judges will likely subject them to the same judicial scrutiny and uncertainty, particularly if it’s the only factor pointing to a non-binding process.

Owners seeking to protect themselves by using a ‘non-binding RFx’ clause in an otherwise binding RFx should therefore not derive too much comfort from the protection it can offer as courts may, under certain circumstances, refuse to enforce it.

A good idea but not a perfect solution

Given the above, is it a good idea to include a “this RFx is non-binding” in your standard RFx document to avoid Contract A duties? In our view, yes. Like liability disclaimers and privilege clauses, these provisions could provide strategic leverage in negotiations with disgruntled bidders and may be legally enforceable under certain circumstances. In deciding to use these clauses, however, owners should be aware that, while they may be a good idea, if put to the test in court they may not act as a perfect solution to the Contract A problem.

Rather than simply inserting a ‘non-binding’ clause in your standard RFx template, a more effective approach is to work with your legal and other advisors to create a template that is specifically and thoroughly designed to be non-binding with regard to all of the above factors. You can then decide when and how that instrument is to be used, keeping in mind that in some cases Contract A might be the most efficient way to proceed.

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041 Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

[email protected]

Canada Free Trade Agreement Implications

August 3, 2017

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CFTA Implications

by Lise Patry, B.A.Sc., LLB, ICD.D

Will the Canadian Free Trade Agreement that came into effect July 1 impact my ability to engage with GPOs?

Thanks for this interesting question. It will come as good news to many that in fact the CFTA provisions clarify rules around the use of buying groups

Under the AIT, we only see a reference to buying groups in the Annexes applicable to Crown corporations and MASH sector entities. Covered entities wishing to purchase through buying groups must ensure the activities of the buying groups are carried out in a “manner consistent with this Annex”.

In the CFTA, the buying group provisions apply to all covered entities and additional rules have been added. Covered entities purchasing through buying groups:

no longer have to ensure the procurement is consistent with the CFTA if they have little or no control over the procurement process; and
must publish a notice of participation with the buying group at least annually on their tendering website. The notice must direct potential suppliers to the buying group tender notices website if it is different than the tendering website used by the covered entity.

National Education Consulting Inc.

Phone: (250) 370-0041 Toll Free: (888) 990-7267

[email protected]

BC AGLG Flags Management of Vendor Performance

July 27, 2017

The Auditor General for Local Government in BC has published a series of booklets designed to help improve government performance and complement its performance audit reports. Although specifically targeted to local government in BC, these booklets provide a wealth of information, templates and suggestions that can help guide any Canadian public sector organization.

In a January 2016 publication the AGLG highlights vendor performance management as one of three topics to improve achieving value for money in operational procurement. It discusses key elements of a vendor performance management framework, best practices in managing vendor performance and includes a number of templates that can be adapted for use by any organization. The full document can be accessed at https://www.aglg.ca/app/uploads/sites/26/2017/04/Perspectives-T1-T1-PDF.pdf.

This important report complements PSPP 203 – Managing and Evaluating Contract Performance – and augments many of the examples and templates we cover in that course. As an organization that works with public sector right across the country, we see repeated examples of major procurement and contract mishaps related to incomplete or inadequate vendor performance evaluation. Users and business clients become frustrated when the procurement department ‘continues to engage the poor performers’. Yet the procurement department is not provided with enough (or any) information about performance issues to solve this problem. Outstanding vendors see the less than stellar performers continue to be awarded contracts, so they are de-motivated to keep up their own performance standards. All contract performance then slips to the lowest common denominator, further frustrating the users and eroding value for money from government spending. And as we know, terminating a contractor without adequate performance documentation can lead to expensive and protracted lawsuits, unwanted publicity and consumption of valuable resources that could best be directed elsewhere.

If any of this is starting to sound familiar, you or your staff may want to join us online, starting June 26, for a cross-country cohort in <PSPP 203>. (link to 203 reg for june 26 session) Spanning four weeks, this course takes approximately 3 hours of time per week, and delves into many detailed examples, illustrations and best practices related to this important aspect of the procurement and contract management cycle. The analogy that we often use is that if the RFX process is the ‘wedding’, then the contract management process is the ‘marriage’ – that’s where the hard work really takes place! Determining how performance will be measured and managed must be thought about in the planning stage, carefully described in the RFX and resulting contract, and then implemented as contract performance unfolds.

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