Public Works takes tough line on printer buying rules

Printer manufacturers and their reseller partners shouldn’t expect the Public Works department to more than tinker with a controversial new purchasing policy unveiled this month.

That was the message delivered to ITBusiness.ca in an interview Tuesday with two senior ministry officials.

Marshall Moffat, director general of the department’s Office of Small and Medium Enterprises, and Linda Jellicoe, lead procurement officer for printers, emphasized that suppliers still have three more weeks to put their views to bureaucrats before the latest printer tender policy – officially called a request for standing offer – is finalized.

But Moffat and Jellicoe said those discussions won’t lead to a tearing apart of the new offer, as urged by the Canadian Government Information Technology Providers Association, which represents some 18 companies that do business with Ottawa.

“It is possible we may need to make modifications to the printer request for standing offer,” said Moffat, “but we’re not considering at this point that wholesale change will be required.”

“If there are changes that come up through the question-and-answer process (in the next three weeks) it will just be tweaking and refinements,” added Jellicoe. “I don’t see us changing our approach because I think this one really will work well for all concerned.”

As for a four-month delay in bringing out any new standing offers to get more industry input suggested by the IT providers association, Moffat replied, “that’s not the track we’re on.”

Their comments were immediately dismissed by association spokesman Chris Coates. “There are some major clauses in the printer standing offer that are just not acceptable,” he said. “It will take more than tweaking to help SMEs.”

The association has vowed to lobby the federal cabinet to change the new standing offer, part of a series alterations in the way Ottawa buys goods and services — everything from furniture to servers — to save the government $2.5 billion over five years.

The new printer plan calls for a reduction in the number of models the government will buy in the future, along with a shift in the way it will designate eligible suppliers. While four suppliers in 10 categories can be win the right to sell printers to Ottawa, only two will be active for the first six months of the contract. The other two can offer competing bids after six months.

This formula has the IT suppliers association upset, saying it has created a reverse auction to squeeze profit margins. Jellicoe noted that under the previous rules eligible suppliers could counter-bid after only two weeks on a contract. However, Moffat acknowledged that the proposed new system “will bring more head-to-head competition”

Public Works’ plans to overhaul procurement could be interpreted as shaky in the face of opposition from suppliers and questions from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Last week the department was forced to suspend a new request for standing offer over hiring temporary help, with minister Michael Fortier promising the seven day-old policy “revised” after industry consultation.

The press release making that announcement emphasized that the government is still talking to manufacturers and suppliers before the standing orders are set.

But Moffat disagreed with a suggestion the uproar by the private sector, plus the withdrawal of the standing offer on temporary help, means the ministry’s new procurement strategy is off the rails.

“I’m very bullish that spending more time and effort to consult does not mean that we’re off the rails. I would say exactly the opposite. We’re on the rails.”

Nor would he say that he’s disappointed with the private sector protests, insisting that the department is working diligently to take concerns of suppliers into account. But he emphasized that the ministry has said for quite some time it wants to get more value for money in its purchases.

“We said we would be a tougher customer,” he said.

“We’re working diligently to take into account the concerns of suppliers. But you have to understand we’re changing the way we go about procurement, and we’re trying to get better value for the Crown and for taxpayers. And in order to do so it means suppliers are going to have to compete. We’re going to take care to measure value for money in a much tougher way than we have in the past.”

He denied that the government’s goal is to reduce the number of manufacturers and resellers it deals with. “We’re expressly not trying to do that, in fact we’re trying to do the reverse. We’re trying to maintain the distributed reseller network for the government of Canada partly because we really need it for setup, service, repair and picking up used printers for environmental disposal. The request for standing offer makes it very clear that anyone that is going to qualify to win one of those competitions has to meet that distributed service requirement right across the country.”

Moffat’s office is supposed to help small and mid-size companies compete for federal business. Some SMBs have complained the offices are opening slowly across the country, but Moffat said his department has moved “fairly swiftly.” Regional directors are about to be appointed, he also said.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Howard Solomon
Howard Solomon
Currently a freelance writer, I'm the former editor of ITWorldCanada.com and Computing Canada. An IT journalist since 1997, I've written for several of ITWC's sister publications including ITBusiness.ca and Computer Dealer News. Before that I was a staff reporter at the Calgary Herald and the Brampton (Ont.) Daily Times. I can be reached at hsolomon [@] soloreporter.com

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