Government Temporary Help Services Advisory Committee Meeting Record of Decision - May 9, 2007

• Agenda
• Record of Decisions

Agenda

Wednesday, May 9, 2007
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
11A1, Room 101
Gatineau, Québec

1. Approval of Record of Decision – Chair
2. Ethics and Continuous Improvement – DND
3. Discussion on other stakeholders' proposed changes – All
4. Next RFSO items to be reviewed – PWGSC
5. Timetable for RFSO/RFSA finalization
6. Roundtable and Closing Remarks
7. Next Meeting

Record of Decisions

In attendance:

• Steven Turner, Chair (Consultant)
• Captain Crane, DND
• Debbie Sinclair, PWGSC
• Marcel Landry, PWGSC
• Line Dugas, PWGSC
• Meredith Egan, ACSESS
• Jeremy Ingle, ACSESS
• Kathryn Tremblay, ACSESS
• Daniel Moorcroft, QMR Staffing Solutions Inc.
• Pierre Paquette, Secretary, PWGSC
• Yves Lafleur, CIISD - PWGSC
• Rachel Boudreau, CIISD - PWGSC
• Michel Boulet, CIISD - PWGSC
• Daryl Leach, CIISD - PWGSC

Item

Item 1 Approval of Record of Decision

• The Record of Decision was adopted by the Committee with two revisions: The following names did not participate to the meeting and are to be deleted from the list of attendees: Marcel Landry, Yves Lafleur, Rachel Boudreau, Michel Boulet, Daryl Leach.
• At Item 3 Progress Update - PWGSC Presentation, under Option 2, the last sentence is hereby revised as follows:

  " It was agreed that whenever this option is selected, the name and
  number of suppliers invited to submit a response is to be made available to other invited suppliers."

Item 2 Ethics and Continuous Improvement - DND

• In the past two months, DND has been experiencing retention problems during the period of Call-up, with Temp Help employees from four different THS Suppliers. The Temp Help employees have been leaving their assignments for various reasons.

[Sylvain Cardinal (R)] Both the industry and the government recognize this as a problem; however the THS Advisory Committee members were unable to identify appropriate mitigation strategies at the meeting. The Industry representatives indicated that they have very little control over their resources. This may be addressed during the evergreen process of the method of supply.

Item 3 Discussion on Other Stakeholders' proposed Changes

• The Protocol and Standards Catalogue was discussed and PWGSC agreed with Industry's recommendation of having a "Price Refresh" on a yearly basis. To have "Price Refresh" on a more frequent basis would be very onerous.
• ACSESS forwarded a letter to PWGSC on 4 May 2007, outlining [Sylvain Cardinal (R)] concerns with some of the draft RFSO portions that were distributed to the Committee members. The content of the letter was discussed at length.

Item 4 Next RFSO items to be reviewed

1. Classifications

   It was agreed that subject to obtaining Departmental approvals, PWGSC would post a message on MERX requesting input from THS Suppliers in a template covering the description of specified categories for all Streams of THS. The message will include a pre-amble pertaining to the nature of the Committee, a sample of the requested information and a link to the THS Web Site. Suppliers will be provided with two weeks to respond. The draft message will be forwarded to ACSESS (Kathryn Tremblay). The final message will be forwarded to the Non-ACSESS Members of the Committee and the DND Member for input directly to PWGSC.
   Action: PWGSC

   ACSESS will ask their membership as well as the two non-ACSESS members of the Committee to provide input directly to their association and provide the compiled information to PWGSC.
   Action: ACSESS

2. Financial Strength and Stability
   (to be completed)

   After discussion agreed to leave the requirements as is.

3. Insurance Requirements
   (to be completed)

   PWGSC will seek clarification from its risk advisor regarding the issue of relevance/applicability raised by ACSESS.
   Action: PWGSC

4. Call-Up Process

   The financial evaluation of THS Suppliers was discussed. PWGSC will [Sylvain Cardinal (R)] start conducting Audits [Sylvain Cardinal (R)] on Suppliers to ensure compliance by THS Suppliers with the terms of the Standing Offer.
   Action: PWGSC

   It was agreed that PWGSC would address the issues raised in the proposed RFSO.
   Action: PWGSC

5. Financial Evaluation

   It was agreed that the Technical and Operational Stream (3) would be split into two Streams: Technical Stream and Operational Stream. This will ensure greater homogeneity of skills within each new stream.
   Action: PWGSC

   It was agreed that PWGSC would ensure that the RFSO is clear on:

   1. the structure of the emerging method of supply is considerably different from those used in the past;
   2. it will be accompanied by training and on-going oversight by a permanent committee;
   3. there will be an active audit program; and,
   4. there will be timely and credible activity and performance information to support continuous improvement.

   The method of Supplier selection in the financial evaluation [Sylvain Cardinal (R)]. PWGSC will consider including samples for ease of understanding.

6. Non-Supply and Rates
   (to be completed)

   Those items raised, as suggestions for elaborating on the document will be given consideration in the next draft.

   On the issue of price erosion, the Committee concluded that predicting future behaviour based on the past is not a valid technique for this method of supply. This is because:

   1. the structure of the emerging method of supply is considerably different from those used in the past;
   2. it will be accompanied by training and on-going oversight by a permanent committee;
   3. there will be an active audit program; and,
   4. there will be timely and credible activity and performance information to support continuous improvement.

Item 5 Timetable for RFSO/RFSA Finalization

The timetable for finalizing the RFSO/RFSA was discussed.

It was agreed that subject to obtaining Departmental approvals, for the purpose of transparency, PWGSC would post a message on MERX indicating that the draft RFSO/RFSA is being finalized and will be tabled at the Committee for discussion by Members.
Action: PWGSC

Item 6 Round Table and Closing Remarks

Time did not permit a "round table" discussion.

Item 7 Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held May 16, 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.