Updated: September 5, 2019
On March 18, 2019, the provincial government announced their plan to deliver a Supply Chain Centralization Initiative for Ontario Public Service and Broader Public Service (BPS) organizations. Customers may have also received a memorandum from their funding Ministry announcing Interim Measures that are now in effect.
In particular, these Interim Measures outline expectations for in-scope procurements, including, that customers must use an “existing and applicable Vendor of Record (VOR) arrangement, where possible and appropriate” for new procurements, and ensure all new contracts have a term not exceeding two years, including any extensions. The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services MGCS has a website (Doing Business with the Ontario Government) with details related to Interim Measures.
OECM has partnered with MGCS to provide clarification on the Interim Measures. We would like to take this opportunity to clarify and make note of the following:
- OECM Agreements, listed in our Marketplace of Products and Services, fall within the category of ‘existing and applicable Vendor of Record (VOR) arrangements,’ and are eligible for customer use, in addition to Ministry of Government and Consumer Services (MGCS) VOR arrangements.
- As such, customers can join any of the OECM Agreements at any time without restriction, and remain with the agreements until their expiration.
- All OECM Agreements are compliant with the Interim Measures and therefore, customers joining OECM Agreements are not required to complete Procurement Rationale Reports for any of the OECM Agreements including those that offer terms beyond two years.
- Participation in OECM’s Marketplace is voluntary. We do not require a spend or quantity commitment to participate, and no up-front commitment is required.
- OECM continues to work with MGCS to ensure that all of our future Agreements are aligned with the Supply Chain Centralization Initiative.
The Ministry of Education (MEDU) and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) recently sent memos to their respective sectors recognizing the value of collaboration with OECM and identified the need to explore ways to leverage OECM’s strengths and practices in support of the new Supply Chain Centralization Initiative.
A complete list OECM’s product and services, as well as upcoming sourcing projects, is available via OECM’s Marketplace Guide.
OECM encourages all customers that have any questions, or require further information, to contact our Customer Support Team at customersupport@oecm.ca or 1-844-OECM-900 (1-844-632-6900).
