By Liz Busch Many of the public sector’s contracts for ongoing needs are multi-year, with options to renew or extend. These contract renewals offer a significant opportunity to negotiate cost savings, improve on terms and extract optimum value from long-term contracts. Changing suppliers for ongoing contractual needs can be difficult, which makes adding options to […]
By The Procurement School Without effective communication, relationships with your procurement partners can quickly become stagnant. This and undoubtedly negatively impact your team’s vendor performance management strategy and outcome. To nurture a supplier relationship that optimizes outcomes for both parties, performance management should be an ongoing and continuous process. Relevant feedback delivered when the supplier […]
The procurement of IT components and services comes with its own unique set of challenges and responsibilities. This encompasses cyber security and other IT services, hardware, and software products. One must aim to meet all business requirements and maximize the value of spend. Below we offer best practices for mitigating the many different areas of […]
By The Procurement School A Statement of Work (SOW), also referred to as Statement of Requirements (SOR), is a detailed description of the goods and/or services to be supplied under a contract. The job of the document is to clearly stipulate all services and deliverables required to fulfill a contract by defining the tasks or […]
The era of whistleblowing and the need for transparency and supportive legislation in public procurement By The Procurement School Whistleblowers can change the world. And the world needs changing. As dramatic as it may sound, real change requires brave actions and loud voices. However, unveiling corruption and fraud can come with repercussions and grave consequences, […]
It is often said that the best defence is a good offence. This proactive thinking is prevalent throughout our public procurement training, emphasizing the importance of carving out adequate time to do effective procurement planning. Part of that planning should include considering strategies for selection of the ‘best value’ supplier – which will vary depending […]
It is easy for procurement professionals to understand that the best indicator of how a contractor will do in the future is how they have performed in the past, but very few are working with a credible, objective and fact-based system for collecting and utilizing this information on a regular basis. And given the specific […]
By The Procurement School On September 21, 2021, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Liberal party leader, was re-elected with a minority Government. As Trudeau will be leading the country for the next 18 months, we thought we would look at what re-election means for public procurement. It seems the Liberals are investing heavily into keeping up with […]
As the effects of the global pandemic unfold, governments the world over are looking to procurement leaders to restructure supply chains that are agile and resilient as well as leverage technology to gain procurement efficiencies. This has led to increased positions and career opportunities for procurement professionals — thereby furthering the need for, and increasing […]
Integrated Project Delivery is a construction delivery methodology successfully in use for decades in the US and parts of Europe. It is currently gaining traction in Canada. what is integrated project delivery, or IPD? There are essentially four construction delivery method options a project team can choose from. These four include: design-build, design-bid-build, construction management […]
Author: Debby Shapero ProppWhether you are contracting to licence or acquire custom software, hardware, or related services, IT procurement creates unique challenges and is often associated with high costs, complexity, and a relatively high rate of failure. Improperly informed IT decisions can be costly. These challenges can be daunting even to the most seasoned practitioners. […]
When a contract is not performed as promised, the other party may have the right to claim damages for breach of contract. The amount of liquidated damages payable will depend on the terms of the contract and, if the contract is unclear, then on what can be established as ‘reasonable and provable losses’ flowing from […]
My husband, the cook in our household, often speaks of the holy trinity of French cuisine – the mirepoix – a base of sautéed onions, celery and carrots that form the foundation of many French recipes. In contracts, the trinity of risk allocation is the limitation of liability, indemnity and insurance clauses. Together, this trinity […]
In the last issue of The Legal Edge, we reported on the pivotal Supreme Court of Canada decision in Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71, which expanded the organizing principle of the duty of good faith to include a “duty to act honestly” in general contractual dealings. While acting honestly and making sure that you […]
As procurement professionals know, contractual discretion is a double-edged sword: it leaves you in the driver’s seat, but almost certainly will lead to challenges when that discretion is exercised to the detriment of the other party to the contract. While the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Bhasin v Hrynew laid out some organizing principles […]
It would be an understatement to say that the sudden onset of a pandemic has challenged supply chain and procurement organizations across the globe. Aside from securing emergency orders of critical supplies and services, many organizations have had to cope with a rapid move to online sales, planning, sourcing and managing critical contracts and projects, […]
Suppliers doing business with the public sector may be in for an unpleasant surprise when they learn that their information can be released to outside parties once it comes into the hands of government. What I’ve heard from my clients: “What? No way. That’s all company confidential information! They can’t release that!” As procurement professionals, […]
Criminal convictions resulted from contract awards for heating plant repairs over a four year period at the Shearwater military base, managed by the Department of National Defence (“DND”). A civilian employee and a contractor were convicted of fraud committed against the federal government, an offence under section 380(1) of the Criminal Code, after extensive internal […]
Are you facing supplier disruption and potential contract cancellation as a result of the recent pandemic announcement? Wondering if your organization has the right to cancel or terminate its own contract commitments related to upcoming events given the suggested restrictions on group gatherings? The first thing to understand is that there is no common law […]
Staying Safe in Uncertain Times As many of our valued clients have now implemented pandemic protocols, we thought the following information from the Canadian Bar Association on the legal implications for the workplace might be useful: Here is also some useful information on the business and legal implications of Covid-19 from Blakes: With respect to […]
In large recurring procurements, it is not uncommon for the same bidders to respond, and to have business dealings outside of the procurement process. Are there circumstances in which there is an implied contract between these bidders to treat each other fairly when responding to the procurement? Test your understanding of the convergence of contract […]
You may have encountered a situation where some defect in the evaluation process has been identified after closing and, rather than attempting to correct the issue, the procuring entity has simply let the bid validity period expire and then started the procurement process anew. Have you ever wondered if this is the most appropriate way […]
Expanded Impact of Trade Agreements Although they have been in place for two years, we are just beginning to see the impact of the new trade agreements in Canada. When the single point of access (“SPA”) mechanism is implemented by the Federal government then all bidders will be able to see all opportunities in Canada, […]
A recent decision of the Ont. Superior Court of Justice considers the respective obligations of an owner and bidders in a competitive dialogue process – the owner must act fairly and in accordance with the terms, and the bidder must comply with the requirements of the RFP that commences the process, regardless of whether Contract […]
Question: Our organization continues to hold public openings for construction tenders, but I’m wondering if this is still a best practice. What are your thoughts on this? Answer: Thanks for your question, this is a common one. In a recent informal poll of 20 public sector purchasing professionals, roughly 20% said their organization still open […]