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I had the same thoughts about how thorough they were with their planning and multi-levels of involvement. All my experience tells me is that the best planning results in much better end results. My work had an issue where not enough planning and research was done and none of the people involved were subject matter experts and the results were unfavorable for everyone including the respondents. There is definitely something to be learned from E-COMM’s process.
This could be a great solution to the high stakes of a large all in one project. One thing to keep in mind is to make sure all the proceeding components are compatible with each other as some developers prefer different software or computer development processes. I am not quite sure the term but I do know that can be an issue. The contract manager will need to do some serious planning to make sure each step is compatible with the old software and equipment at the same time that it will also need to be future proof for the new software and hardware.
This is so true! Before I started in procurement, I was a finance clerk in another program area and I had the opportunity to work with a vendor directly to create a new financial system for one of the programs we ran out of our area and it was amazing to be apart of the building process. We (the government) explained what needed to be achieved and they worked with us to come up with the best way to get their. The result was a user friendly and intuitive program that easily did all the things we needed it to do. Getting user involvement early is so critical to a projects success.
I agree that getting the buy in from program areas to participate in vested outsourcing when we the procurement people are not the ones required to monitor the work and/or work closely with the vendor to verify their performance and make sure they are meeting their key performance indicators. This method could result in a lot of extra work for the contract managers.
Using incentives is a very good idea. By rewarding innovation, timeliness, and good results, it encourages more vendors to want to continue contracting with our organizations and continuing to perform to the highest standard. I suppose this method would require some hands on contract management so that the vendors’ performances are properly documented and rewarded accurately, but that is the expectation for vested outsourcing procurements.
When considering where and how vested outsourcing can be used in my job, I consider the janitorial tenders and contracts. We usually have a checklist of tasks that need to be done and they offer a price that they can do those tasks for, but in the past we have had performance issues. This could have been a great opportunity to use vested outsourcing. Tell the vendor the importance of the end result being a clean and tidy space for the use of staff and clients and get their buy in to the importance of the results. It is easy to know what you want the end result to be, but it is hard to know how to measure performance.
I found the Governance Structure for the Project team including external users of the system was the most interesting aspect of this procurement. Its daily users of this type of software that are usually the most aware of what features they like and areas where they would make changes.
I would absolutely approach a similar project in this way. The more time spent on the planning and research will save time and money in the end. The specifications will meet your criteria better and there will be less unqualified participants as you already determined who was qualified to participate in the RFQ. I did a difficult competitive procurement where an RFI or RFQ were not done, nor did we hire an outside company to be our subject matter experts to advise on what was needed for the project to be written to our specifications and the result was unfavorable and the procurement was cancelled. The time the requesting program area wanted to save was lost in the end.Having that first hand experience in Peru must have been incredible seeing the direct benefits of Fair Trade on a community. It is those direct impacts that need to be shared to get the support of governments and communities. Spending another dollar on a chocolate bar barely affects your life, but the effect it can have to a community half way around the world is compounded exponentially.
I never would have thought of waste management as something that could be outcome-based commissioned. As an outsider it’s wild to think that the more garbage the more profit for the vendor. Using outcome-based commissioning as a way to clean the community as well as lower the negative impacts on the environment by forcing companies to be more innovative is drawing a great picture of the future.
Interesting points. I agree that job training programs and small business innovation grants are a good option for outcome-based commissioning, but I wonder if sales and number of employees is the right measure to show whether a business is more successful now than before they get the grant.
I suppose that while outcome-based commissioning is a great idea, trying to find those measurable results for evaluation would be difficult to do properly especially when doing public programming with the unpredictability of humans. But when done correctly would benefit the work being done.
Interesting point. Do these economic development programs require a business proposal? Business proposals can show whether a community can support a business like whether the population your business is targeting is large enough to support your business as well as marketing strategies to reach your perfect customers. I feel like it would be very reasonable to make eligibility have more steps as well as showing evidence of follow through and measurable success or attempt at success at the very least.
I think these are fantastic options! In a way, this is encouraging preventative measures to peoples’ treatments rather than reactionary. Less hospitalizations because the residents/citizens are getting the care they need before it becomes critical. This type of procuring would likely save money in the long run as well as greatly improve the lives of the clients. Because we live in a place with free healthcare, it is not always clear just how much money is saved when people have good care and consistent housing.
I work for Health and Social Services department of my local government and we already do some outcome based procuring. While for goods its easy to tender for goods since the requirements are so much more clear, it is more challenging to have measurable outcomes with services.
Most of our RFPs we do ask for the proponents to prove their capability to do the work and at the same time we provide milestones for certain work to be completed by. It would be uncomplicated to add in outcome-based expectations as well.
My real curiosity is: if a vendor cannot meet the desired outcome, how does the contract manager handle it? Financial Penalty? Cancel the contract? Can they not participate in the next tender?
I agree that Fair Trade in Canada is great, but making Fair Trade fit into public procurement rules as well as best value when spending tax payer dollars is the true challenge. I guess that is why getting the support of the local governments and the community is how to make a town Fair Trade. Having government and community support can help pass legislation to adjust rules to allow for more Fair Trade options to be used. My community wishes to do similar changes so that more local businesses can be supported even if it’s less fiscally responsible for the government.
I would be so interested in doing case studies of how other towns in Canada have managed to become Fair Trade towns to see what strategies were used to get the community on board. I feel the response in my community would be a very mixed bag. Locals in my area care very strongly about supporting local businesses, but maybe that attitude isn’t far off the fairtrade path.
