Shared  Services  Canada  Procurement  &  Vendor  Relations  Directorate  

Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business Version number: 1.0 Version date: June 14th 2013 Upon request, this directive is available in multiple formats.

1. Effective Date

This directive came into effect on June 14th 2013, following the approval of the Senior Project and Procurement Oversight Committee (SPPOC).

2. Application within Shared Services Canada

This directive applies to Shared Services Canada (SSC) employees.

3. Related Policy Instruments

Treasury Board Secretariat Contracting Policy Notices 1996-2, 1996-6, 1996-10, and 1997-6

4. Introduction

4.1 Context:

Treasury Board policy requires all departments to develop multi-year performance objectives for contracting with Aboriginal businesses and report to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, (AANDC), on progress made towards meeting these objectives. Therefore SSC Procurement and Vendor Relations Directorate (PVRD) procurement officers are required to identify all Aboriginal set-aside contracts by using the SIGMA business system reporting functionality.

4.2 Background:

Treasury Board Contracting Policy Notices 1996-2, 1996-6, 1996-10, and 1997-6 support the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB) and require that

“each department and agency with an annual contracting budget in excess of $1.0 million shall develop multiyear performance objectives for contracting with Aboriginal businesses and develop related reporting mechanisms.”

The PSAB applies to all departments and agencies subject to the Government Contracts Regulations.

Unlike the United States where the US government has determined that set-asides apply to small and medium sized businesses under the NAFTA, Canada defined set-asides to be applicable only to Aboriginal businesses. Thus under the trade agreements, two types of set-asides are possible:

Shared  Services  Canada  Procurement  &  Vendor  Relations  Directorate  

1) Mandatory Set-Asides: Is where an Aboriginal population is the primary recipient or end user of the goods or services being procured and the value exceeds $5,000, provided that operational requirements, prudence, probity, best value and sound contracting management can be assured; and

2) Voluntary Set-Asides: Is where departments may designate any procurement as being restricted exclusively to qualified Aboriginal suppliers.

5. Objective and Outcomes

5.1 Objective:

For fiscal year 2013/14 the department will endeavour to award contracts to Aboriginal businesses valued at $24.76M which represents 3.8% of the forecasted non-telecom spend of the department. (The Aboriginal population of Canada represents 3.8% of the total population of Canada).

For the next three years, the estimated value of contracts will be adjusted based on contract volumes for 2012/13, and a projected 2% year on year growth rate. These estimates are set out under Appendix A. These targets are estimates only and are subject to executive approval and will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

5.2 Outcomes

The PSAB initiative aims to increase federal contracting opportunities and to gain access to the overall federal procurement process for Aboriginal businesses.

6. Requirements

6.1 Departmental Objectives.

On a calendar year basis Departmental objectives must be set for a rolling three year period. Initial proposals are reviewed by AANDC and confirmed in an exchange of letters between AANDC and SSC. Agreements are adjusted or extended annually within 30 days of the anniversary date of the agreement.

6.2 Identifying PSAB Projects

a) The Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer will issue a call letter to all SSC Senior Assistant Deputy Ministers (SADMs) at the beginning of the fiscal year asking for the business units to identity procurements to be considered for aboriginal set aside.

b) The SADMs will assign each of their business unit leaders to identify planned procurement projects to be considered for set aside in support of the overall SSC PSAB objectives.

c) Each SADM will consolidate their business unit’s PSAB plan and forward it to the SADM and CFO, Corporate Services for consolidation into an overall SSC PSAB plan.

d) The Director General PVRD will review the consolidated plan to assess if it meets the targets and if so will present it to the PVRD Procurement Review Board (PRB) for review and ratification.

Shared  Services  Canada  Procurement  &  Vendor  Relations  Directorate  

e) If the overall SSC PSAB plan does not meet the overall SSC targets then steps a-c (above) are repeated until sufficient procurement projects can be identified to meet the targets.

f) Once ratified by the PRB, PVRD will track in SIGMA all contracts issued as PSAB set-asides and track spending volumes against the agreed upon objectives. The PVRD Procurement Policy Division PSAB coordinator will provide progress reports to AANDC every six months to report progress towards the SSC overall target.

6.3 Reporting:

SSC will provide regular reports on the number and value of contracts awarded to Aboriginal businesses.

Performance against the quantitative performance objectives will be reported every six months to AANDC.

7. Responsibilities

7.1 Corporate Management Committee

• Governance and oversight of this policy directive • Approves Policy Instruments • Reviews consolidated progress reports against SSC’s PSAB objectives

7.2 PVRD Procurement Review Board (PRB)

• Approves SSC PSAB objectives • Reviews procurement files for PSAB opportunities • Reviews consolidated progress reports against SSC’s PSAB objectives

7.3 Procurement Policy Division (PPD)

• Creates SSC’s procurement policy for aboriginal businesses to reflect senior management's policy direction

• PSAB co-ordinator is responsible for: o Promotion of PSAB at SSC o liaison with PSAB counterparts in AANDC and PWGSC o Analysis of PSAB spend reports o Reporting of PSAB spend

8. Monitoring and Reporting

PVRD will track in SIGMA all contracts issued as PSAB set-asides and track spending volumes against the agreed upon target. The PVRD Procurement Policy Directorate PSAB Co-ordinator will provide progress reports to SSC management and AANDC every six months to report progress towards the SSC overall target.

9. Compliance, Assessment, and Review

Compliance with this policy is mandatory.

Shared  Services  Canada  Procurement  &  Vendor  Relations  Directorate  

The Procurement Policy Directorate, or its successor, is responsible for the assessment and review of the effectiveness of the content of this policy every five (5) years, as well as ad hoc reviews if and when deemed necessary. This review period will commence on the effective date of this policy.

10. References

This policy must be administered and implemented in conjunction with the following policy instruments:

Treasury Board Secretariat policy instruments

• Aboriginal Business Procurement Policy and Incentives - Contracting Policy Notice 1996-2 • Aboriginal Business Procurement Policy Performance Objectives - (Contracting Policy

Notice 1996-6) • Contracting Policy Notice 1996-10 • Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business: Guidelines for Buyers/Government Officials

(Contracting Policy Notice 1997-6)

11. Enquiries

Questions about this policy should be directed to the PVRD Procurement Policy Office

Appendix A:

SSC PSAB Multiyear Performance Objectives

Fiscal Year 2012/13 Forecasted Total Volumes (Non-Telephony)

2013/14 PSAB Target (3.8%)*

2014/15 PSAB Target (3.8%)*

2015/16 PSAB Target (3.8%)*

Estimated Number of Contracts Awarded

5946 226 230 235

Estimated Dollar Value of Contracts Awarded

$651,679,693 $24,763,828 $25,259,105 $25,764,287

* Based on assumed 2% per year purchase volume increase