Province expects to save money by changing contract-tendering process
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/10/2018 (2922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The provincial government says it will modernize Manitoba’s procurement practices to achieve better results and save money.
The Progressive Conservative government announced Wednesday it has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada — at a cost of $6.3 million — to assist in developing its new strategy.
Manitoba currently issues individual contracts for projects and often goes through separate tendering processes for various goods and services. Two recent reviews identified the need to modernize procurement services within government as a way to reduce costs.
The new approach to procurement that the province is investigating is known as category management. One contract can be issued for a particular category of goods and services for several departments, instead of entering into several separate contracts.
This allows government to negotiate lower costs through larger purchases of a product or service and improve contract management, the province said in a release Wednesday.
Finance Minister Scott Fielding said Nova Scotia has been updating its procurement services in a similar way.
“(PricewaterhouseCoopers) has been supporting this work in Nova Scotia, which is already seeing positive results,” he said.
In Year 3 of Nova Scotia’s implementation process, it is saving more than $25 million a year,” Fielding said.
As part of its contract, the consulting firm will assist with staff training, program management and tracking any benefits.
Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said business had not been calling for the change, but he said it makes sense for the government to modernize its processes in line with what other jurisdictions are doing.
“I think if you can update the way you do procurement to make it easier for business, simpler for business, a lot more transparent… that’s going to be a good thing,” he said. “At the same time if you can reduce cost for government, that’s probably beneficial as well.”
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca