Public Works and Government Services Canada and the US General Services Administration share best practices

August 18, 2010

Senior representatives from PWGSC and the US General Service Administration (GSA) met in early June in Ottawa for their biennial meeting. GSA Administrator Martha Johnson led the US delegation and Deputy Minister François Guimont led the Canadian delegation. The meeting focussed on strategic challenges and best practices for the management of procurement, real property and information technology.

PWGSC and the GSA are among the most similar federal-level common service organizations in the world. In 2003, they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) where they committed to exchange strategic information and best practices. They also agreed to collaborate on joint research and standards development for the delivery of common services. Since signing the MOU, PWGSC and the GSA have been holding senior level meetings every two years, alternating between Ottawa and Washington.

Meeting co-chairs François Guimont, Deputy Minister of PWGSC, and Martha N. Johnson, Administrator of General Services Administration, pose for a group photo with other senior representatives from PWGSC and the GSA.

“We share what works and what doesn’t work. While PWGSC and GSA face similar challenges, our responses and solutions are often different. These differences provide the most significant opportunities to learn from one another,” says Gregory Evanik, Senior Director, Strategic Governance and Intergovernmental Affairs at PWGSC. “While we place an emphasis on sharing innovative new practices that have immediate benefits, there are many areas where benefits take longer to achieve, such as in the areas of new building design and systems modernization. Short or long term, PWGSC and GSA are equally committed to improving service delivery and saving money.”

Over the years, this collaborative approach has led to many improvements on both sides of the border in areas including: e-procurement and contracting; project management systems; strategic client relations; performance measurement; building design; greening of government strategies; commodity management; small- and medium-sized enterprise support; emergency preparedness and human resources renewal. In the future, options for accelerating the exchange of knowledge and best practices will be explored, including employee exchanges and joint-training programs.

Taking a closer look at client relations in particular, PWGSC and GSA are both committed to improving their client services and relationships. In recent years, GSA and PWGSC have shared the knowledge that they gained in the area of client relations management. GSA also communicated the positive results they experienced with their customer and citizen-centred approaches to client engagement. Key elements of these approaches include strategic sourcing, service agreements, staff development, service culture, performance measurement and issue resolution mechanisms.

Many of these best practices are reflected in PWGSC’s new client service strategy. In developing this strategy, PWGSC sought out international best practices for client relationship management from a number of countries. Although PWGSC considered many examples, GSA’s positive experiences with direct client engagement helped reinforce PWGSC’s approach for its client service strategy. In turn, GSA has been interested in PWGSC’s approaches to client barometers and commodity management. Overall, these exchanges reflect how both organizations are helping each other improve their respective services.

Another important area where both organizations have been working together is in the exchange of building research related to seismic and security issues. PWGSC’s offices in the Pacific Region have been very active in this area and results have been incorporated in our practices.

The level of discussion and common challenges facing both organizations at this year’s meeting were so substantial that both parties agreed to meet again next June—one year earlier than called for in the MOU. Ongoing collaboration on procurement and real property issues will continue in 2011. However, sustainability has also grown in importance, particularly for GSA, and will become one of the overarching priorities at next year’s meeting in Washington. Specific areas of focus will include green buildings, green procurement, e-waste, greenhouse gas reduction and supplier certification.

“We are committed to finding the best practices in the world,” says Deputy Minister François Guimont. “By exchanging new strategies and innovative practices with organizations such as GSA, we are accelerating our efforts for service improvement and cost reduction—this can only be good. By continuously comparing ourselves against the best common service organizations in the world, we are ensuring that the government and Canadians get the highest quality services for their investments.”

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