Strategic Sourcing
OECM conducts procurement in a fair, open, transparent, and competitive manner in compliance with the BPS Procurement Directive and other Trade Agreements, including the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
OECM’s Sourcing Process
OECM’s sourcing process is compliant with the Broader Public Sector (BPS) Procurement Directive and other trade agreements. We encourage our customers to represent the needs of their organizations by getting involved in the sourcing process.
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Planning and Consultations
Hold consultations, gather inputs and requirements, develop sourcing strategy
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RFx Development
Pre-notifications, develop, draft, review and finalize RFx
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Posting
Post RFx, hold info session, Q&A and closing RFx
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Evaluation
Seek Evaluators, conduct evaluations, inform results
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Award
Notify preferred proponents, finalize agreements, hold debriefings, launch agreement
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Agreement Management
Ongoing business reviews, monitor performance, evaluations, price audits, and more
Planning and Consultations
Hold consultations, gather inputs and requirements, develop sourcing strategy
- Hold consultation sessions with OECM customers and Project Advisors who are Subject Matter Experts in the area of the project/RFx being developed
- Customers will share their feedback and insights with respect to their needs and requirements
- Hold consultation sessions with suppliers
- Gather data and research the scope of products and/or services
- Inputs received from our consultation sessions will assist OECM in developing the procurement strategy as well as the RFx requirements
- Develop sourcing strategy
RFx Development
Pre-notifications, develop, draft, review and finalize RFx
- Post a pre-notice on MERX™, Biddingo and/or Electronic Tendering Sites (ETS) to consult with suppliers
- Define requirements and scope
- Draft RFx
- Distribute RFx to Project Advisors for review
- Subject Matter Experts and Project Advisors assist OECM in validating the requirements noted in the RFx
- Finalize RFx
- Seek approval to post with supporting documents
Posting
Post RFx, hold info session, Q&A and closing RFx
- All RFx notices are published on MERX™ and Biddingo. OECM uses the Ontario Tenders Portal (OTP) Jaggaer to post all RFx.
- Hold information session, if applicable
- Facilitate question and answer period (two rounds), if applicable
- Issue final addendum and Q&A documents
- Post a closing notification
- Close RFx
Evaluation
Seek Evaluators, conduct evaluations, inform results
- OECM seeks Subject Matter Experts to assist with Evaluations
- Develop evaluation material
- Train Evaluators
- Perform RFx evaluation stages
- Hold consensus meeting, if applicable
- Complete the remainder of the RFx evaluation stages
- Inform the Project Advisors and Evaluators of the overall evaluation results
Award
Notify preferred proponents, finalize agreements, hold debriefings, launch agreement
- Seek approval to award RFx with supporting documents
- Write the agreements
- Notify the preferred proponents
- Finalize the agreements with the preferred proponents
- Execute agreements
- Launch the agreements for clients to access
- Send the letters of regret and offer debriefing sessions with unsuccessful proponents
- Hold debriefing sessions
- Project Advisors Wrap-up Session
Agreement Management
Ongoing business reviews, monitor performance, evaluations, price audits, and more.
- Developing and identifying savings and value
- Conducting ongoing business reviews with supplier partners to resolve issues
- Evaluating and monitoring performance objectives proactively through KPIs and SLAs
- Effective negotiations on customers behalf through the term of the agreement
- Establishing risk mitigation and management strategies
- Regular price audits
- Knowledge sharing
Learn more about OECM’s Contract and Supplier Relationship Management services here.
Get Involved
Participate in the Sourcing Process
Share your expertise: Become a Subject Matter Expert/Project Advisor
Represent your organization and network with like-minded industry professionals by participating as a Project Advisor on upcoming sourcing projects. Customers can share valuable insights about their organizations’ business needs and help shape the agreements to our Marketplace by providing:
- Spend and usage data to forecast the potential scope of the project
- Subject matter expertise on the requirements for specific products and services
- Input into the overall sourcing strategy and evaluation criteria
Project Advisors can participate at different stages of the sourcing process and participation is optional and open to all OECM customers.
Become an Evaluator
OECM is seeking Subject Matter Experts to assist with Evaluations. Evaluators are tasked with reviewing and evaluating supplier proposal submissions during the most critical stage of the sourcing process.
Evaluators, which can include Project Advisors, as well as other Subject Matter Experts who have knowledge and an interest in the specific RFx project, are trained to ensure a consistent approach is applied to evaluating and scoring supplier proposals.
Honorariums
In recognition of the valuable time and effort during the Evaluation stage, OECM is pleased to offer honorariums to Evaluators for their voluntary work to complete evaluations after business hours and on weekends. The honorarium amount varies for each project and is based on the quantity and complexity of the proposal. Honorariums are offered for evaluations up to a maximum of $1,000 per project.
See Evaluator Opportunities
There are no Evaluator opportunities at this time. Please check back again soon.
Broader Public Sector (BPS) Procurement Directive
The Broader Public Sector (BPS) Procurement Directive, issued by the Management Board of Cabinet, sets out procurement rules in the purchase of goods and services, by BPS organizations in Ontario, using public funds.
It improves accountability and transparency for procurement decisions and processes and maximizes the value that BPS organizations receive from the use of public funds.
OECM and the BPS Procurement Directive
Every sourcing initiative undertaken by OECM is in compliance with the BPS Procurement Directive.
Want to know more?
More information about the BPS Procurement Directive can be found on the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery Supply Chain Ontario website.
Who does the Procurement Directive apply to?
The BPS Procurement Directive applies to all designated BPS organizations under the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, 2010, such as:
- every hospital;
- every school board;
- every university;
- every college of applied arts and technology and post-secondary institution in Ontario;
- every approved agency designated as a Children’s Aid Society (CAS), under subsection 15 (2) of Part I of the Child and Family Services Act;
- every community care access corporation (CCAC);
- every corporation controlled by one or more designated broader public sector organizations that exists solely or primarily for the purpose of purchasing goods or services for the designated BPS organization or organizations;
- every provincially funded organization that received public funds of 10 million dollars, or more, in the previous fiscal year of the Government of Ontario;
- every organization that is prescribed for the purposes of this definition.
Trade Agreements
OECM sources in a fair, open, transparent and competitive manner, in compliance with the BPS Procurement Directive and other Trade Agreements, including the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (“CFTA”), and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA”).
