In March, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) released the final version of its new “National Procurement Strategy for Communications Services” after almost a year and a half in the works, a period that included consultations with industry and government departments.

The new strategy applies to federal departments and agencies that use PWGSC to buy their communications services through requests for standing offers or supply arrangements for repeat purchases, or through one-time requests for proposals.

Here are a few highlights from the strategy, available on www.merx.com.

1. Social media: New services like social media design and implementation are being added to the roster of communications services available to purchase.
2. Standing offers and supply arrangements: They will continue to be the main methods of supply, but now they are set for two years to start, with two one-year options for renewal. Terms and conditions are to be standardized. Suppliers who miss getting in at the start of a supply arrangement will have the chance to qualify during refresh periods for the subcategories of media monitoring services, events management services, graphic design and exhibit design services, and strategic communication services.
3. Shorter, easier proposals: In its tenders, PWGSC says it will use templates with simplified, standardized wording, and it will put a page limit on bids. Where possible, there will be less bundling of services and fewer requirements that call for a team (good news for small businesses).
4. Client committees and supplier working groups: PWGSC will invite communications professionals from government departments to take part in its new client-based Communications Services Procurement Advisory Committees in order to be trained on the procurement process and evaluation methodologies, and more. There will be one committee for each of the eight communications services subcategory, as warranted. Those subcategories are:
   1. advertising services (including campaign planning and production, and media purchases)
   2. public opinion research services
   3. audio-visual production services (film, video and multimedia)
   4. media monitoring services
   5. exposition and exhibit services
   6. events management services
   7. graphic design, Web design, and exhibit and display design services
   8. strategic communication services (including public relations, marketing, planning, writing and editing, and other related services).

PWGSC is also inviting communication services suppliers and/or representatives of supplier associations to take part in communications services supplier working groups (one group per subcategory, as needed). Not only will this allow PWGSC to communicate more with suppliers and better educate them on the procurement process, but it will also help PWGSC to keep pace with industry trends. A call for suppliers to participate in the working group for graphic design, Web design, and exhibit and display design services closed on April 23.

Businesses seeking communications contracts should also realize that several key government-wide PWGSC purchasing tools contain some communications roles, too. Technical writer categories exist in the new ProServices supply arrangement for contracts up to $78,500, in TSPS and in TBIPS, while communications consultant categories can be found in ProServices and TSPS. Learning Services, a standing offer / supply arrangement tool used to buy services to create, update or convert Government of Canada-owned training courses, applies to video producers, content experts, multimedia designers and other communications roles.

About Marion Soublière, M.E.S. Editing and Writing Services
Since 2007, Marion Soublière of M.E.S. Editing and Writing Services has won standing offers with the Library of Parliament, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Privy Council Office and Industry Canada. Her book, Getting Work with the Federal Government: A guide to figuring out the procurement puzzle, is available from Amazon.com, Chapters.ca and Kobo.com in e-book and paperback format.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 10:56 am and is filed under Canadian Government, Methods of Supply, Procurement News, Standing Offers, Supply Arrangements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.