Procurement Perspectives: Procurement options for goods and services

In the many articles I have written over the past 10 years, I have reviewed the municipal procurement process in detail, specifically looking at the various options that are available for taking a possible contract for the supply of goods and services to market.

Procurement constitutes an exercise of government authority and like any such exercise it is one that needs to be subjected to appropriate checks and balances, which I have often stated are lacking in the government procurement process.
To control the expenditure of public funds, to deter abuse, to provide for the detection of any irregularity and to protect the interests of the municipality as it secures the goods and services that it requires to carry out its programs and deliver its services, are vital.
These checks and balances begin with an appropriate division of responsibilities between the municipal council and staff.
As I have also noted several times, council has a critical role to play in the procurement process, in order to provide adequate democratic input into the expenditure of public funds.
Generally, in the absence of any reason to suspect wrongdoing, the relationship between council and staff should be one of mutual co-operation and support.
Staff has an obligation to account and discharge information. Staff should provide council with all the information that council either specifically requests or make general provision to obtain.
In certain circumstances, legitimate concerns regarding confidentiality (or some other offsetting factor) may slow down the provision of such information, but where this is so the reason should be provided.
Council, for its part, primarily exercises its mandate by hiring apparently competent and trustworthy staff, by approving a proper governance regime to control expenditure of public funds (including reporting and internal control procedures), and by imposing a proper accounting regime to monitor such expenditure.
The budgetary process also plays a critical role in this area. After these steps have been taken, it is not only appropriate but necessary in the interest of organizational effectiveness to entrust the day-to-day discharge of purchasing responsibility to the staff that council has hired.
I also continue to detail and review the important role of specifications in the overall contracting process.
I have discussed the recent shift towards using the specifications to “state a problem to be solved” rather than to “dictate a solution,” balanced against the need to identify the kinds of solutions required within the specifications in order to provide clear guidance to prospective suppliers.
Over the years, I have continually noted the current prevailing view is that specifications should not try to dictate to the market, but rather should allow private sector suppliers to bring forward ideas as to how to overcome some stated problem.
Construct Canada is around the corner starting on Nov. 29 in Toronto and is a great opportunity for municipal owners to view new ideas and concepts from the market place for both goods and services as well as newly manufactured products that could be incorporated into the construction process.
Recently, I reviewed the extent to which “emergency” procurement procedures are overused. I have always focused particular attention on the problems associated with drawing up specifications and the need to relate the specifications for a given contract to the procurement method selected for that contract.
Finally, the contract award and administration of the procurement process will have a direct relation to the procurement options for all goods and services. The evaluation process in a RFP, the identification of a preferred supplier, the awarding of the contract and its documentation all play a key role when it comes to the fairness and optics of the suppliers and contractors bidding for government projects.
Stephen Bauld is a government procurement expert and can be reached at swbauld@purchasingci.com. Some of his columns may contain excerpts from The Municipal Procurement Handbook published by Butterworths.