Government Temporary Help Services Advisory Committee - February 21, 2007

• Agenda
• Record of Decisions
• List of Issues

Agenda

Wednesday, February 21, 2007
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
11A1, Room 101
Gatineau, Québec

1. Approval of Record of Decision
2. De-briefing by Sylvain Cardinal
3. THS provider status (Qualifications/Mandatories/Services)
4. Stealing of resources
5. Invoices + timesheets (process & signing)
6. Diverse workforce placements
7. How can we promote retention?
8. Other Items
9. Next Meeting
10. Roundtable and Closing Remarks.

Record of Decisions

In attendance:

• Steven Turner, Chair (Consultant)
• Captain Crane, DND
• Helen Seto, Health Canada
• André Lamothe, Services Canada
• Sylvain Cardinal, PWGSC
• Debbie Sinclair, PWGSC
• Patricia Lalonde, PWGSC
• Line Dugas, PWGSC
• Meredith Egan, ACSESS
• Jeremy Ingle, ACSESS
• Kathryn Tremblay, ACSESS
• Paul Gagnon, Portage Personnel
• Daniel Moorcroft, QMR Staffing Solutions Inc.
• Pierre Paquette, Secretary, PWGSC

Items

Item 1 Record of Decision

• The Record of Decision was adopted by the Committee.

Item 2 Debriefing by PWGSC and ACSESS

• PWGSC provided the Committee with a briefing of its presentation (copy attached) to the Commodity Council Meeting held on February 16, 2007, attended by representatives of five client departments: DND, CIDA, Treasury Board, Health Canada and PWGSC. The proposed changes to the THS Method of Supply were well received by the client departments. A copy of the Minutes of the meeting will be shared with the Committee. Comments from the other Commodity Council members will be sought via email.
  Action: PWGSC
  1. The Committee agreed with the recommendation by the Commodity Council to amend the wording of the definition of THS as follows: "A position is vacated (is replaced by) vacant and a staffing process is being completed".
  2. The Committee agreed with the recommendation by the Commodity Council to maintain the CS Category as part of THS as there would be no overlap with the IT Professional Services provided User Departments apply the revised Definition of THS.
• The issue of "Appropriate Delegated Authorities" was briefly discussed in the context of accountabilities associated with placing a Call-up for THS. This item will be deferred until PWGSC returns with the draft RFSO.
• ACSESS provided the Committee with a briefing on the meeting held with it's members on February 19, 2007, to discuss the proposed changes to the THS Method of Supply. At the outset, the definition of THS and the proposed Methodology for THS RFSO Financial Evaluation were well received and, the Industry raised a number of issues. A list of the issues raised by the members at the meeting will be shared with the Committee.
  Action: ACSESS
  1. Special invoicing instructions, especially towards the end of a fiscal year, is problematic for the Industry and will be reflected in the User Departments training and guidelines.
     Action: PWGSC
  2. It was agreed that the Technical Writing Category will move from Stream 2 Technical and Operational to Stream 3 Technical and Operational as there is a better fit in this stream.
  3. In order to ensure all THS Suppliers are treated fairly in the new approach to THS, PWGSC will not be "grandfathering" some of the mandatory evaluation criteria for current Standing Offer suppliers of THS.
  4. PWGSC will consult their Financial Analyst to determine whether the list of financial requirements is an all-inclusive list of requirements or whether suppliers will have the option to provide one of the possible documents for demonstrating financial capability.
     Action: PWGSC
  5. ACSESS will provide PWGSC with a proposed Audit Framework for Industry.
     Action: ACSESS
  6. It was agreed that a Bidders' Conference will be held for THS to ensure all bidders have a clear understanding of the requirements for the new approach to THS.
     Action: PWGSC
  7. With regard to the proposed methodology for supplier selection at time of Call-up, PWGSC will ensure that business rules are well defined and that these are reflected in the User Departments training and guidelines.

Item 3 THS Provider Status (Qualifications/Mandatories/Services)

• This item is deferred until the Industry has had more time to discuss this issue internally and the proposed RFSO is tabled for discussion. ACSESS did indicate, however, that their members felt that bidders should be required to demonstrate their testing capabilities for stream 1 and possibly stream 2 before obtaining a standing offer.

Item 4 Stealing Resources

• The practice by User Departments offering Casual/Term/Permanent Employment to Temp employees while on Call-up was discussed at length but warrants further discussion.
  1. It was agreed that this practice should be discouraged and will be reflected in the User Departments training and guidelines.
     Action: PWGSC
  2. Industry agreed to share with PWGSC their standard clauses used in contracts with private sector clients to address this issue and provide examples of jurisprudence on this issue. ACSESS also agreed to provide a proposed clause to deal with this issue.
     Action: ACSESS

Item 5 Invoices and Timesheets (Process and Signing)

• PWGSC agreed to address the concerns raised by the Industry in the proposed RFSO. It was agreed that no T&Cs other than those stipulated in the Standing Offer document would apply.
  Action: PWGSC

Item 6 Diverse Workforce Placements

• The issue was discussed and requires no further action.

Item 7 How Can We Promote Retention

• The issue was discussed and it was agreed that the features of the proposed new approach to THS should promote retention of Temporary Help resources.

Item 8 Other Items

• Overtime

The issue of the Industry asking that the "overtime" rate apply in situations where User Departments ask Temp employees to work on Government Statutory Holidays was discussed at length. It was agreed that the overtime rate should apply only in situations where the call-up does not cover the requirement for the temp employee to work on the statutory holiday.

1. PWGSC agreed to address the issues raised by the Industry in the proposed RFSO.
   Action: PWGSC

• Harmonizing Bulk Buys

From time to time, User Departments require Temporary Help Services in bulk for eg. Elections Canada, to meet urgent operational requirements. This issue was discussed and no decision was taken.

• Miscellaneous Requirements for THS

Despite the efforts by the Committee members to ensure that the revised List of Categories of THS covers most requirements, should a situation arise where a category is not included in the Standing Offer, User Departments are encouraged to first compare the requirement to the classification of an existing job description and if unsuccessful, contact PWGSC to obtain assistance.

1. PWGSC will ensure that this is reflected in the User Departments training and guidelines.
   Action: PWGSC

• Replacement Call-up

The Industry raised the issue of the issuance of a Replacement Call-up for an unsatisfactory resource.

1. It was agreed that this issue is to be resolved by the firm under the existing call-up. PWGSC will address this issue in the business rules and User Departments training and guidelines.
   Action: PWGSC

• Testing Instruments

The Industry raised the issue that the current requirements for Testing Instruments are outdated. It was agreed that the requirements for Testing Instruments need to be reviewed and updated.

• ACSESS will provide PWGSC with the web site for two softwares for testing Instruments: "PROVE IT" and "QWIZ".
  Action: ACSESS
• PWGSC will review the two proposed testing instruments and will likely need to validate them with client departments and possibly PSC before inclusion in any new RFSO.
  Action: PWGSC

Item 9 Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held February 28, 2007 at Place du Portage, 11 Laurier, PDP III, Gatineau, Québec, Tower A, 11A1, Room 101 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The Agenda for the next meeting will be sent to members via e-mail prior to the meeting.

Item 10 Round Table

No issues of significance were raised during the round table. PWGSC provided the Committee with a copy of a draft performance measurement framework for discussion at the next meeting.

List of Issues

Revised List of Issues for Discussion

√ Method of Supply Issues	Discussed
Scope
Define THS vs. consulting services	√
THS as a government hiring option (Casual vs. Term vs. Temp)	√
Determine THS provider status (Qualifications/Mandatories/Services)	21/02/07
What is the role of THS relative to PS Online and other procurement tools?	√
Where is the money? / Where are the savings opportunities?	√
Functionality
Determine the range and definition of Classifications	√
Determine the method of competition i.e. fixed price vs. ceiling pricing	√
How to make a Call-up based on quality as well as price	√
What is the method of selection and evaluation criteria for use by clients?	√
What is the role of Right of First Referral?	√
Should there be any Call-up limitations with respect to cost or duration?	√
How to screen for Bilingualism and other specialty attributes	√
How to pay suppliers efficiently (i.e. use of credit card)
How to deal with client requested travel	√
Have we minimized costs for all stakeholders through efficiencies?	√
Consistency / Quality of data / Ease of accessing data	√
How to measure performance including vendor performance	28/02/07
The role for Audit	√
Client education and training	√
Integrated Issues
Define clear administration roles and responsibilities for all parties	√
Define process and responsibilities for efficient Security Clearances	28/02/07
Candidate wages	√
Need an accurate baseline	√
Improved communications / analysis	√
Does industry have Insurance coverage requirements (draft clause)?	√
Operating Issues
Employer-Employee relationships	√
Contract - Shopping	√
Stealing of resources	21/02/07
Invoices + timesheets (process & signing)	21/02/07
Diverse workforce placements	21/02/07
How can we promote retention?	21/02/07