Government Temporary Help Services Advisory Committee Meeting Record of Decision - Thursday May  7, 2009

• Agenda
• Record of Decisions

Agenda

Thursday, May 7, 2009
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Place du Portage
14A2 Room 101,
11 Laurier, Gatineau, Québec

1. Approval of Record of Decision of March 26 Meeting
2. SO & SA Awards
3. Training
4. New THS On-line System Implementation – Next steps
5. Forward agenda for next meetings
6. Other Items
7. Closing Remarks

Record of Decisions

In attendance

• Pierre Paquette, PWGSC (chair)
• Jason Storm, PWGSC
• Debralee Ducharme, PWGSC
• Joanne Cattai, PWGSC
• Lucie Kealey, PWGSC
• Helen Seto, PWGSC
• Hong Xu, PWGSC
• Susan Ireland-Nadeau, Department of National Defence (DND)
• Roland Dimitriu, PWGSC (Material Management)
• Dan Moorcroft, QMR Staffing
• Jeremy Ingle, The Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS)
• Kathryn Tremblay, ACSESS
• Martin Chenier, ACSESS
• Meredith Egan, ACSESS
• Paul Gagnon, Portage Personnel

Pierre Paquette introduced PWGSC personnel changes including two new members from PWGSC;

• Debralee Ducharme, Manager, Online Services Division, (replacing Debbie Sinclair who is on language training) and,
• Hong Xu, Contracting intern officer with Procurement Strategies Division.
• Denis Allard, (THS trainer) will be moving on as of 19 May 2009, and will be replaced in June 2009.

Item

Item 1. Approval of Record of Decision of March 26, 2009 Meeting

Industry confirmed that the Province of Ontario Bill 139 -- Employment Standards Amendment Act passed second reading. Industry will provide pertinent written information that will help PWGSC understand the issues and the impact it will have on THS.

The Record of Decision from the March 26, 2009 meeting was adopted by the Committee with the following revision:

Item 4, Second Bullet should read:
“In order to be time efficient, PWGSC recommends to all Federal Department Users that when they are sending requests to the Standing Offer Suppliers listed on their "Search Result", that the Client go to as many suppliers as they deem necessary to successfully fill their requirement.

JUST REMEMBER: that "Right of First Refusal" MUST apply. It is important to stress that each requirement is different and should be handled accordingly.

A clarification will be issued to all THS users.

Item 2. SO/SA Awards

PWGSC presented to the Committee a general summary of the results of THS SO/SA Awards.

For the RFSO there were 125 bids.

• 121 bidders met the mandatory requirements for one or more streams and received Standing Offers,
• Three (3) bidders were technically non-compliant on all streams upon which they bid, and
• One (1) bidder withdrew.

For the RFSA, there were 129 bids.

• 124 Suppliers met all of the mandatory requirements for one or more streams and received Supply Arrangements,
• Three (3) bidders were technically non-compliant on all streams upon which they bid, and
• Two (2) suppliers withdrew.

PWGSC has sent regret letters to the suppliers who were technically non-compliant.

A refresh of the SO/SA is expected to be posted on MERX by the fall of 2009. All qualified suppliers who have an SO and/or SA will be able to modify their ceiling rates. New suppliers will also have an opportunity to submit a bid.

Any comments / feedback regarding the SO/SA awards from suppliers should be forwarded to PWGSC Standing Offer/Supply Arrangement Authority in the Procurement Strategies Division by e-mail at ncr.acqb-ths@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

Item 3. Feedback on training of Federal Department Users

Industry expressed concern that certain departmental users, who attended THS training, may have misunderstood the timeline/process of the THS SO/SA.

PWGSC has committed to sending clarifications/updates to all client users that have attended THS training sessions, as well as publishing these notices on the THS website and provide to THS Advisory Committee members.

During the meeting PWGSC confirmed to industry that client departments understand the heightened responsibility of handling contracting issues because of the Federal Accountability Act.  PWGSC indicated that training provided to THS client users may be considered abrupt, but deputy ministers are now clearly accountable for the actions of their department.  There are now measures and controls in place when using the THS Online System to ensure that users adhere to the rules.

Item 4. New THS On-line System Implementation – Next Steps

Industry indicated that many THS client users do not understand how to use the Supply Arrangement (SA) model or have not been given the delegated authority to use SAs.

PWGSC confirmed that it is mandatory that SA users have procurement experience or have access to procurement experience as well as delegation of authority.  PWGSC also informed Industry that there were quite a number of presentations given at the Client Advisory Board (which consists of Senior Management in client departments) that discussed the delegated authority within departments and its effect on using PWGSC procurement tools.  PWGSC is committed to helping departments increase their delegation of authority – but this will not happen overnight.

To simplify the use of the SA model, PWGSC has also designed templates to use with the SA model and these will continue to be updated from time to time.

PWGSC is striving to have a more robust reporting structure within its e-procurement tools and this will help with SO/SA usage reporting.

Item 5. Forward Agenda for next meeting

No discussion.

Item 6. Other Items

Industry emphasized that it was unacceptable practice that client departments direct resource placement personnel who are registered with one company to register with another THS company.

PWGSC confirmed that this has always been an unacceptable practice. PWGSC will continue to promulgate these unacceptable practices through training and the website. Assessments will also address these practices in their investigations.

Industry mentioned their concern about companies giving training to client departments and/or developing their own training materiel on using the new THS Online System and wanted to know if PWGSC approved of this.

PWGSC does NOT approve of this and will confirm with legal services if this infringes on copyright laws. As well, if erroneous information is distributed could be confusing/destructive to the training efforts.

Industry agreed that they would provide the Committee with a two-pager on “THS”, that all industry could provide to their clients (along with the THS help desk email ncr.temphelpservices@pwgsc.gc.ca).

Industry asked if current THS contracts must end when the old system is sunset? Can they be amended even after the launch of the new system?

PWGSC confirmed that departments could amend existing THS contracts (call-ups) that were issued prior to the launch of the new Temporary Help Services System if:

1. The expiry date of the Contract has not passed;
2. The total value, inclusive of original contract, amendments (including the proposed amendment), and all other applicable costs (e.g. Travel, taxes, overtime), does not exceed $89K.
3. As well, the terms & conditions of the “original” THS SO apply and the amendment must be issued “outside” of the new system.  (Amendment templates are available by request to the general THS mailbox).

At the end of the meeting, Pierre Paquette, the Chair of the Committee made an announcement that he is leaving PWGSC effective 19 May 2009 to assume a new position within the Canada School of Public Service. Pierre thanked all the committee members and wished them all the best on their new endeavours.

Pierre also informed the Committee that as of June 01, 2009, Rick Sztramko will be the new Director (and Committee chair). Gerry Brown will be the acting Senior Director during the interim period from 19 May to 01 June 2009.

PWGSC also tabled that perhaps this would be the opportune time for a review of the Temporary Help Advisory Committee membership for both Industry and Government alike. Now that the creation and implementation is complete, we should be moving forward with our focus on training and ever-greening this method of supply. Part of this would include a representation from varied industry and client departments.