Government Temporary Help Services Advisory Committee Meeting Record of Decision - October 31, 2007

• Agenda
• Record of Decisions

Agenda

Wednesday, October  31, 2007
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
11A1, Room 101
Gatineau, Québec

1. Approval of October 10th Record of Decisions
2. Overview of Current Situation
3. Training
4. Schedule
5. ACCESS Letter
6. Staffing Concerns
7. Round Table/Next Meeting

Record of Decisions

In attendance:

• Sylvain Cardinal, PWGSC
• Debbie Sinclair, PWGSC
• Debralee Ducharme, PWGSC
• Captain Crane, DND
• Helen Seto, Health Canada
• Patricia Lalonde, PWGSC
• Meredith Egan, ACSESS
• Jeremy Ingle, ACSESS
• Martin Chenier, ACSESS
• Kathryn Tremblay, ACSESS
• Paul Gagnon, Portage Personnel
• Dan Moorecroft, QMR Staffing Solutions Inc

Item

Item 1 Approval of October 10th Record of Decision

RoDs were approved, with the following discussion points.

Item 2 Overview of Current Situation

PWGSC provided the following summary:

• Industry asked if there were any internal roadblocks – PWGSC stated that there were no internal roadblocks but that we require clarifications with regard to our authority to build the application within GoCM

Debbie Sinclair provided confirmation that the draft documents would be completed this coming week and provided to the Crown's Legal Representative to review.

Debbie also stated that they were presently auditing PS Online and would be starting to audit THS shortly.

Item 3 Training

3a Training Content

• Debralee Ducharme addressed Industry's previous concerns in regards to investigating the THS Training content that is being provided to government employees for the following concerns:
• Concern 1: “Go to as many Suppliers as possible for all requirements” – PWGSC was informed that an email went out from one of our “clients” to 80 firms and that they were instructed to do so in our training.”
• Response: The THS training course specifies that they are to:
  • Complete their search
  • The system will provide the Supplier with the lowest rate first
  • Right of 1st refusal belongs to that Supplier, then to the 2nd lowest, and then to the 3rd, and so on.
  • The course does recommend that “in order to be time efficient, they should invite perhaps, the three lowest suppliers at once (depending on complexity/difficulty on obtaining a candidate within the required classification e.g. Auditor, in which case you might possibly invite 5 suppliers at a time.)”
• Concern 2: “Trainer was instructing clients to only accept one resume per position from the supplier.”
• Response: In response to a previous discussion within the Advisory Committee in regards to "some suppliers not taking the time to review the requirement and providing one or two qualified personnel — instead they were flooding the client with five or more CVs per position. The client found it too time consuming to review all of them. The training authority responded to the situation by instructing the client to request "one" CV per position from the applicable Suppliers. The Trainer has removed this from the training materiel at our request.
• PWGSC stated that the present method of supply states “a” resume not a specific number.  Debralee Ducharme stated that she does not see the supplier's concern in the Client capping the number of resumes they are willing to review per temporary position – and that this will have to be further discussed so that we might clearly address this matter in the New Method of Supply.

3b Supplier Involvement in Training Materiel Review

• PWGSC agreed to and welcomed Advisory Committee's future comments & suggestions on the training package.  Debralee Ducharme has agreed to provide a copy of the training notes to the Advisory Committee members for the present THS, from which she will be creating a “Training Deck” for the New Method of Supply.

3c Supplier Visits

• Suppliers suggested that PWGSC should send someone to get to know "their" business. Debralee Ducharme thought this was an excellent idea, and is patiently waiting for their invites.

Item 4 Schedule

• Committee stated that training should start at least a month before launch of New Method of Supply.  It would be better if we had a longer training period.
• Capt. Crane expressed concern in regards to trying to train during the summer holiday period, and wants the implementation date to be in the fall.

Item 5 ACCESS Letter

Letter re market conditions and listing of member's comments & suggestions was provided to PWGSC.  They are to review.

Item 6 Staffing Concerns

• Industry expressed concern in regards to THS being utilized for “staffing” purposed by Gov't Departments.
• PWGSC stated that is definitely not what THS is there for.  The training provided (and recommendations from PWGSC) clearly informs them that this is not a “hiring” tool.  THS is for temporary purposes only and appropriate public servant staffing is still required for longer-term requirements.
• PWGSC expressed concern as well with Industry's/Client's actions:
  • 1st example: Supplier provided a large number of people to a government department and had them in place in excess of a month with no contract in place.  Confirming Order has to be issued by the Department.
  • 2nd example: Supplier receives a request for a candidate.  Provision is made prior to receipt of call-up/contract.  When call-up eventually received by Company, they proceeded to try and change the $ value on the contract, stating that they didn't know the call-up was resulting from THS.  Company pulled individual off the job because Client would not pay increased rates.  This created a very stressful situation for all concerned.
• PWGSC expressed that Supplier & Clients are putting themselves at risk and to please follow the “Rules of the Road.” Clients should specify that the requirement is under THS.  Suppliers are requested to clarify at outset if request falls under THS Method of Supply.

Item 7 Round Table/Next Meeting

• Industry discussed their concern again of being knocked off list because of the price competition.  They are requesting some degree of relief in the SA portion of the New Method of Supply in the 1st year.
• Discussed “investigation” process that PWGSC should follow re problems with Customer Departments (Auditing).
• Training needs to address the proper audience.  Ensure that we create Do's & Don'ts for BOTH Customer Department users and Industry users.
• Industry wanted to ensure that “Bulk Buying” was NOT like Elections were requesting.  E.g. 30 clerks required, and they wanted the ability to go out once, and then reserve 3 winning firms.  Industry has told us that it would be difficult to “reserve” personnel for a year and keep pricing firm – too volatile a market at this time to hold firm for a year.
• Industry expressed a concern re Clients “Dictating” rates, but can state a cap when going out.  (e.g. Hourly rate cannot exceed $25/hour.)