- 1. Province of Nova Scotia Procurement Services
www.gov.ns.ca/tenders
2. Overview
- Procurement Policy and Guides
- Procurement Intranet Site
3. Procurement Objective
- To establish and maintain a high level of confidence in the
procurement process by ensuring that all public sector procurement
is carried out in an open, fair, consistent, efficient and
competitive manner.
4. Procurement Policy
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- Under $1,000 (no quotes required)
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- $1,000 up $5,000 (attempt to obtain three quotes)
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- Over $5,000 for Goods and $10,000 for Services &
Construction (tendered and posted to Public Tenders website)
5. Policies & Guides
- Construction Contract Guidelines
- Environmentally Responsible Government
- Facilities Procurement Guide
- Architects & Professional Engineering Services
- Guide to the Submission & Evaluation of Unsolicited
Proposals
6. Procurement Processes
- Expression of Interest (REI)
- Alternative Procurement (ALTP)
- Informal process used to determine what products and services
are available, scope business requirements and/or estimate project
costs
- Used as a tool to obtain comments from proponents on draft RFPs
and feedback on business direction
- Notice of meeting posted to website
7. Templates & Assistance
- Procurement templates are provided to clients to assist them in
the preparation of REI, RFP or RSO documents.The templates identify
sections that will clearly inform proponents of the scope of work,
timelines, experience,requirements, evaluation criteria, etc.
- Assistance in preparation of a document can be obtained by
contacting a consultant on the Professional Services Standing
Offer
8. Request for Quotations (RFQ)
- Procurement tool used to solicit vendor price submissions
usually for goods acquisitions
- Evaluation process focuses on price for submissions that meet
stated delivery requirements and quality standards
- May sometimes include an evaluation criteria
9. Request for Expression of Interest (REI)
- May be first stage in the procurement process
- May be used to identify suppliers who are capable of responding
to an upcoming RFP.Evaluate capability and not solution to
problem
- Bidders responding may be short listed according to the scoring
in the evaluation process
- Must be followed by an RFP process to result in an award
10. Request for Proposals (RFP)
- Procurement tool used to solicit vendor proposals to:
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- Supply complex products and /or services
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- Provide options or solutions to a problem, requirement or
objective
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- Imperative the RFP is clear and includes all the requirements
for the project to be a success.Unclear RFPs can lead to poor
responses and re-tendering
- Evaluation includes consideration of the quality of the idea,
concept or solution proposed along with price
- Legal contract at time of award
11. Request for Construction (RFC)
- Procurement tool used to tender for construction,
reconstruction, demolition, remediation, repair or renovation of a
building, structure, road or bridge
- Tender document contains a set of terms & conditions and a
separate bid form that apply to that specific project
- Evaluation based on a number of factors as described in the
tender document
- Legal contract at time of award
12. Request for Standing Offers (RSO)
- Procurement tool used to tender for goods or services that are
usually used across government or are department specific
- Supplier agrees to provide goods or services on an as required
basis, during a particular period of time and at predetermined
price or discount
- Term of standing offer may very in duration, will be clearly
defined in RSO along with any options for extensions
- A purchase order is required to draw off the Standing Offer
list.Each purchase order must not exceed $25,000 for goods and
$50,000 for services
13. Request for Standing Offers (RSO)
- Clients may choose to obtain quotes from multiple vendors for a
specific project
- Standing Offers may include an evaluation criteria depending on
the requirement
- Legal contract at time of award
- List of available standing offers available on the Procurement
Intranet site
14. Alternative Procurement (ALTP)
- Urgent or specialized circumstances, not to avoid
competition
- Rationale documented and kept on file
- Authorized by Senior Management or Board
- List of circumstances provided in Procurement Policy
15. Solicitation of Bids
- Opportunities must be posted for at least 15 calendar days on
Province of NS Tenders website; longer for complex proposals
- Vendors can obtain most documents by downloading from the
website or by contacting the Public Tenders Office
- Nova Scotia vendors can receive automatic notification of
tender opportunities by registering with the Tender Opportunity
Notification Service (TONS)
- Venues used to solicit bids depending on the target vendor
community requiring notification:
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- Advertisements in local, national or specialized
newspapers
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- To ensure a competitive process, clients may provide a
comprehensive list of vendors to be notified
16. Communication
- Vendor consultation and Request for Expression of Interest are
valuable tools in the communication process
- Once a formal document has been issued, vendors must contact
designates identified in documents for answers to questions
- In most cases, it is recommended that communication with
vendors remain confidential except in cases where it is deemed that
answers be known by all.In these instances, an addendum would be
issued
- Questions and answers may be addressed at a scheduled
proponents meeting.
17. Evaluation and Selection
- Pre-selected evaluation team consists of at least three members
who are knowledgeable of the RFP development process, the potential
project expectations and planning requirements.Evaluation process
focuses on:
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- Mandatory Criteria:Proposalsmustmeet mandatory criteria to be
considered for further evaluation.
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- Desirable Criteria:Requirements which are weighted.The assigned
weights reflect the relative importance of the requirements.Pricing
is included with weights.
18. Evaluation and Selection
- Only evaluate the content of vendor submissions and requested
clarifications no assumptions made.Any additional information
provided, could not be considered or evaluated.
- Evaluators should keep substantial notes evaluating each
criterion.Notes from all evaluators should be consolidated by
criterion for each proponents response.(This information will
provide necessary information should a debriefing be
requested.)
19. Evaluation and Selection
- All information is subject to the Freedom of Information &
Protection of Privacy Act
20. Contract
- Standard contract link Identified in RFP.Any other contract
format should be noted or attached as an Appendix to the RFP
- Contract should include reference to original RFP , the
Proponents response, any associated negotiations and relevant
privacy legislation
21. Vendor Debriefing
- Unsuccessful proponents may request a debriefing.This is
conducted as soon as possible after the contract has been
awarded.
- Debriefing provides proponent valuable information on strengths
and areas requiring improvement.
- Debriefings do not provide an opportunity to question the
award.
- Proponents are not provided information from other proponents
responses.
- Win / win situation.Provides opportunity for proponent to learn
how to improve the quality of their proposals and provide you with
improved proposal submissions in the future.It also demonstrates
your appreciation of their effort.
22. Trade Agreements
- Applies to public sector procurement
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- Atlantic Canada Procurement Agreement
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- $100,000 for construction
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- Agreement on Internal Trade
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- $100,000 for construction
23. Reciprocity / Preference
- To ensure NS supplier community receives fair treatment
elsewhere in Canada
- Consider and evaluate bids from other jurisdictions on the same
basis a similar NS bid would be treated in those jurisdictions
- Decision lies with client on final award
- Based on principle of best value for government and deemed best
interest to the province, may award tenders for goods manufactured
or produced in NS for under thresholds ($5,000 or less) on the
following basis:
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- 3 rdAtlantic Canada Manufacturer
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- 4 thAtlantic Canada Distributor
24. Procurement Intranet Site
- Whats available on the site?
25. Procurement Intranet Site
- How do you get access to this site?
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- Contact Jim Donohue, 424-6828, to obtain user login id