Government Temporary Help Services Advisory Committee Meeting Record of Decision - July 4, 2007

• Agenda
• Record of Decisions

Agenda

Wednesday, July 4, 2007
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
11A1, Room 101
Gatineau, Québec

1. Update on GoCM
2. Finalizing RFSO/SA
3. Handout of Completed Documents for Classifications:  Streams 1 - 3
4. Round table
5. Next meeting

Record of Decisions

In attendance:

• Steven Turner, Chair (Consultant)
• Pierre Paquette, PWGSC
• Debbie Sinclair, PWGSC
• Sylvie Fournier, PWGSC
• Paul Gagnon, Portage Personnel
• Meredith Egan, ACSESS
• Jeremy Ingle, ACSESS
• Marcel Landry, PWGSC
• Helen, Seto, Health Canada
• Martin Chénier, Spherion

Item

Item 1 Up date on GoCM

PWGSC confirmed the approach of an approval process within GoCM for all requirements that exceed 1800 hours or exceed 48 consecutive weeks or exceed $400K, whichever comes first. In response to ACSESS' concern that approval process cannot be a "black hole", PWGSC confirmed that approval authority would receive an e-mail notification that action is required within GoCM. Client users would also be aware of the contact at PWGSC to enquire as to status of the approval. This can also be done through e-mail.

Item 2 Finalizing RFSO/SA

ACSESS objected to the size of the document and stated that it was unfair to expect the Committee to review the entire document. PWGSC explained the colour coding (which had been requested by the Committee and provided in May to the members), to aid in the review of the critical areas, e.g. some areas are standard Government (mandatory) clauses.

Page 48: ACSESS expressed concern with the "median" and stated that examples are needed to explain exactly how the formula would be applied. Furthermore, the formula as stated in the RFSO/SA had been applied against the data in the current THS Online System, and the result was that higher rates were eliminated. ACSESS requested that PWGSC consider the wording of "60% of the median". PWGSC agreed to bring this to the attention of Sylvain Cardinal, upon his return next week.

Price Support: ACSESS expressed concern with the approach that 3 year old invoices would be accepted as valid price support; the position is that the invoice should be current. ACSESS also requested that the record state: that Industry will challenge PWGSC to demonstrate that price support was requested/obtained for low rates that appear in the system.

PWGSC requested information on which Classifications would be exempt in accordance with the agreed to approach of 5%. ACSESS suggested that a Classification from Stream 1, e.g. ATIP Clerk may be requested. The concept of the 5% exemption was reviewed, including the understanding that it would only be applied to Streams 4 and 5 for those Classifications that were deemed to be new and therefore would be difficult to provide price support on given the new definition or where inappropriate pricing may lead to a situation of non-supply.

PWGSC confirmed that the Protocol would not be in a final version for the RFSO/SA release, but would be in final form at the Bidders' Conference. It was also agreed that ACSESS' Code of Ethics would form part of the Protocol.

PWGSC explained the threading (connection) of documents: the Protocol set outs the rules of use; the Audit Framework (changed to Management Framework) sets out the manner in which PWGSC will monitor and assess the use of the method of supply, which is connected to the rules of use in the Protocol; and finally, a Sanctions document will detail the actions that will be taken in cases of inappropriate use or unacceptable actions (again connected to the rules of use in the Protocol). All of these documents will be prepared in Draft form by PWGSC and will only be finalized through the Committee.

The training guides, user information, Management Framework and Sanctions document are to be tabled at the Committee in November 2007.

Item 3 Handout of Completed Documents for Classifications: Streams 1 - 3

In addition to the handout, PWGSC provided an overview of the findings: the data received did not support 4 levels for all classifications, e.g. General Labourer only has one level; new classifications have been added, e.g. Meeting Planner; and a classification has been split into 2, i.e. Building Technicians and Building Superintendents.

Committee members will review the package and provide comments next week. PWGSC agreed to provide an electronic version.

ACSESS will also check with membership for feedback on concerns related to the elimination of levels; especially for General Labourer. This information will be provided next week.

Phil Battaglin will be in attendance at the next meeting to discuss his work on the Classifications.

Item 4 Next meeting

July 11, 2007 was confirmed.