Government Temporary Help Services Advisory Committee Meeting Record of Decision - December 12, 2007

• Agenda
• Record of Decisions

Agenda

Wednesday,Decemer 12, 2007
9:00 AM to 11:00 PM
11A1, Room 101
Gatineau, Québec

1. Introduction of Mr. Jérôme Thauvette, A/Director General of the Services and Technology Acquisition management Sector
2. Review of October 31st, 2007 Record of Decision - All
   (Eng. Version emailed to members Dec 10th)
3. Update on RFSO/RFSA – PWGSC
4. The two letters of correspondence that were sent by industry in late/early October/November
   
5. The effects of the newly declared holiday in Ontario, Family Day, its effects on industry and the governments position on that day - Industry
6. Round Table
   • Security Clearance update, change in directives being given.
   • Client training still causing problems for all staffing firms:  Orders still going to 90 firms by e-mail (low value, low quality, high cost model), serious problem for firms and for candidates.
   • Job Orders with mandatory and rated requirements for Administrative roles; must be able to see who else got the requirement (no bcc).

Record of Decisions

In attendance:

• Sylvain Cardinal, PWGSC
• Debralee Ducharme, PWGSC
• Jerome Thauvette, 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
• Julie Chartrand

Item

Item 1 Introductions

PWGSC introduced Julie Chartand, a new client member of the committee & Jerome Thauvette, the new Director General of Services and Technology Acquisition Management.

Opening

Jerome expressed his pleasure that Industry & Government are working together via the THS Advisory Committee.  That we, as a group, are striving towards creating a Method of Supply for Temporary Services that works for all.

Jerome also stated that with all the new employees throughout the government and industry, "things happen", but that it is up to us to inform them of the "Rules of the Road".  PWGSC will ensure training includes the "Dos & DON'Ts" of utilizing the methods of supply.

PWGSC also suggested to Industry & Clients to feel free to contact us when they had a concern or required clarifications.  We are here to help.

Item 2 Approval of October 31st Record of Decision

RoDs were approved by all.

Item 3 Update on RFSO/SA

PWGSC informed committee, that documents were still with legal, and that their comments/changes were manageable.  We still anticipate the new RFSO/SA to be on MERX in January 2008.

PWGSC informed Industry and Clients that a "new" seamless system for THS has not yet been approved.  The request is still on the table but TB Analysts wish a solid business case that reflects the long term vision for viability of not just the THS system but all other system requirements of professional services (e.g. IPS (Informatics, Professional Services, PS Online, etc.). GoCM & STAMS will be working towards this over the coming months.

Meanwhile it is proposed that the "Client" Module will be housed under GoCM; the rest will remain under an updated version of the existing THS.  Weekly Pricing updates will be placed on load file and provided by PWGSC to GoCM for input into the Client Module.  GoCM has a new release coming out.  Debbie Sinclair and Debralee Ducharme were present during a pre-showing, and were very impressed with the upgrades shown.

Item 4 ACCESS letters

Letters re market conditions and listing of member's comments & suggestions were provided to PWGSC for review and action.  Industry strongly expressed concern in regards to pricing the vast number of new categories.  The industry as a whole right now is extremely dynamic, and it would be extremely difficult to provide a true pricing that would reflect industries' costs while providing best value to the Crown.

As a result of this correspondence, PWGSC has obtained approval to not apply the price competition for the RFSO's evaluation – for the 1st year only, which means that all qualified suppliers will be Supply Arrangement Holders.  No suppliers will be knocked off the SA Supplier list for being "too low" or "too high" for this first year.

Industry expressed agreement with this arrangement.

Item 5 Family Day in February

Industry wanted to know the government's position on Family Day.  They have to give their employees the day off.  Some of their employees have expressed willingness to work that day for time and a half.

PWGSC stated that the present THS method of supply clearly states that they do not pay Stat holidays.  THS does cover the client requested overtime of temp help as per labour laws, (e.g. Excess of 44 hours a week in Ontario and 40 hours in Quebec).

Industry stated that this was a different situation, and that they would be losing a lot of money because of this new holiday that wasn't previously calculated into their existing pricing.

Sylvain Cardinal stated that we would take this concern back and discuss with legal.

Item 6 Round Table

Security Clearance Update

Industry wanted an update on the situation in regards to Transfers of Clearances between Companies.

Debralee Ducharme received written confirmation from CIISD in regards to THS method of supply only.  This confirmation states that for "Enhanced Reliability" clearances, there was no necessity for the transferring of clearances from one company to another.  If a person was cleared under one company – they will be considered cleared under all of the companies.

Industry also asked about "Secret" Clearances.  PWGSC will take back and discuss with CIISD in the new year.

PWGSC stated that if a client department requested a transfer to forward them to either an Online Services Rep or Daryl Leach at CIISD.

Industry also requested that this update be placed on the "BULLETIN" being issued on the THS Website. – AGREED.

Emailed Requests

Orders still going out to 90 firms by email (low dollar) serious problems for firms & candidates.

PWGSC does not understand why a client would do that – but will include clarifications/instructions in the BULLETIN published on the website.

Client Contact

Industry finds the restrictions in regards to client contact a major concern.  They want to ensure they are providing the right person for the job.  They are concerned that their success rate will fall when there is no contact allowed.

This concern doesn't apply to the Standing Offer portion, as there is no competition – only "Right of 1st Refusal".

In regards to the Supply Arrangement – PWGSC restricts personal contact between the client & suppliers, (preferring only discussion between government procurement individuals), as they are very concerned with Fairness between suppliers.  It is up to the client to state their requirements clearly.  We are developing a checklist for clients within the training guide (and on the site) to further help them clarify their requirements.  As well, there will be over 300 categories & sub-categories with the New Method of Supply – this should help tremendously in helping clear up this concern.

SO/SA

Question – Who will decide whether to use the SO or SA method of supply?
Answer – The Client

Question – Who can sign the call-ups.
Answer – Only individuals in Government Departments that have been delegated the signing approval.

Emails

Industry expressed 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 client to only accept one resume per position from the supplier."

Decision was finalized between Industry and PWGSC committee members.  Client Departments have the right to limit the number of resume received from one company for one position.

The Maximum number of resumes that can be provided by one company for one position is three (3) resumes.

This will reduce the "SPAMMING" that some client departments are presently getting (e.g. 1 request sent out to 3 companies – 1st company SPAMS the client with 10 resumes to review).

Supplier Involvement in Training Materiel Review

In the last Committee meeting, Industry expressed interest in reviewing the training documentation.  PWGSC brought forward a draft copy for their review on the DEC 12th meet.  Industry requested electronic copy (agreed).  Looking forward to reviewing Advisory Committee's comments & suggestions on the training package.

Supplier Visits

In October, some of the Industry Committee members 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.