Transcript Ontario Government In Review

Presented by: Frank MacKinnon
Ontario Small Vendors Association
In Collaboration with
York Technology Association
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Expectations
Current level of Government of Ontario
contracting
Interest in co-venturing
Ontario Government In Review
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Setting the stage
Getting to “GO”
Learn from the leaders
Taking the next steps
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Who We are:
◦ We are that part of the SME with less than 200
employees which has made the Ontario Government
an important part of our business plan.
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What we do:
◦ Initiate, promote, and facilitate enduring business
relationships between the small business
community and their customers in the public and
(eventual) private sectors.
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Purchase Decision At A Glance
Provincial
Auditors
Premier
Cabinet
Decision Making
& Implementation
Ministers
Accountability
Central Agencies
Premier’s Office
Government Services
Cluster / Ministries
Province
Central Procurement
Agencies
Queens Park
Boards & Commissions
Municipalities
Schools
BPS
Universities
Hospitals
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Program / Projects – Important to understand
the connection
Who makes decisions – No one person makes
any contract decision
 The janitor can send a project into tilt mode; if they are on
the committee, which is quite possible if they are to be the
implementer
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How to Sell to Government –
Procurement 101; 201
◦ Where you can get training, why it is important,
and, why it probably won’t help you sell at the
Cluster/Business level
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MERX – How MERX plays in the greater
scheme
◦ What you will find on MERX, and
◦ Where you will find the rest (the bulk) of the
unsolicited business
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70,000 employees
28 Ministries
Eight I & IT Clusters
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Land and Resources I & IT
Central Agencies
Community Services
Health Services
Children, Youth and Social Services
Economics and Transportation
Justice
Government Services Delivery
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Extremely complex environment
Can be difficult to navigate
While lucrative to some, can be disappointing
to others
Vendor Supply Chain - 45,000 Vendors
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Uses an array of technologies
◦ Could be considered leading edge
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Has a common component policy
◦ To reduce redundancy in technology
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Uses MERX for RFPs and
VOR (RFS)
◦ Procurement policy for acquiring
services and/or products
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MERX
VOR
Unsolicited
Uses Vendor of Record process
◦ Management of Vendor
Community (Supply Chain)
◦ Pre-qualifies suppliers
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Has open policy for unsolicited proposals
◦ To encourage innovation and initiative from the
vendor community to meet a unique need
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1 CCIO – 8 CIOs
CTIO responsible for CIO needs
Other
CCIO
CTIO
CIO
CIO
CIO
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Serve the IT needs of like Ministries.
Have Service Level Agreements (SLA) and
other penalty facing agreements in place with
Ministries to ensure best service practices
Have their own IT Services organization setup
to support Clusters at this level.
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Serve the IT needs of like Ministries.
Have Service Level Agreements (SLA) and
other penalty facing agreements in place with
Ministries to ensure best service practices
Have their own IT Services organization setup
to support Clusters at this level.
Intent on removing redundancy in services
◦ Help desk, email, Desktop, etc.
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Currently reviewing ways to expand IT
services internally.
Looking to private sector to assist in delivery.
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One of the biggest challenges is the lack of
knowledge at the Vendor level.
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A weak economy!
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They believe in what they are doing! AND,
they know better than us the restraints of
their procurement policies.
◦ Serve the taxpayer, consumer and business.
◦ Its all about Service!! Health, justice, Insurance…
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Initiatives:
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Programs:
Concepts
◦ Think tank
opportunities
◦ Not just for the big guy!
Initiatives
Programs
◦ Concepts become Initiatives that when funded
(millions $) become Programs, out of which better
service to the community is realized
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Projects:
◦ Spin off program deliverables
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Design/decision by committee – a safe
approach
“Who was ever fired for buying IBM?”
Consider the Influencers…
◦ Those responsible for project deliverable
◦ Are often found below line management
◦ Tend to have the ear of the CIO
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How is this different from the rest of us?
◦ Government staff are measured by their ability to
deliver on time and to follow the established
procedures
◦ Failure will likely result in loss of bonus and/or
promotion…
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The point is… understand and respect what is
behind their motivation regardless of whether
you believe in it
They must deliver it
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Lead Generation
As VOR you are already qualified for this
market
◦ Don’t need brochures but have a good
elevator speech
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Lead Generation
Listen carefully and remember it’s not
about you
◦ These people meet with hundreds of sales
people who promise the world. How well you
listen will be what you will be remembered
for.
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Lead Generation
It is like time with the CEO - most of the
time you get ½ hour
◦ Understand what information you need to
gather
◦ Be real clear on what you need to impart
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Know who you are talking to. Not unlike the
Private sector, the government relies heavily on
its foxes. Your challenge is to determine who
they are. Watch for those quite voices and 3rd
party consultants.
◦ Strategic, Think Tank, Out of the Box, Keen on concepts.
◦ Reports to the Deputy and is very aware of the politics of
his office.
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It may be too high…if, you don’t fit the profile,
there is likely a better person to talk to.
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Reports to the CCIO and is very aware of the
politics of his bosses office.
Is either dynamic, or, career (cautious) staff
Responsible for delivering on initiatives /
programs.
Is always on the look for winners.
Largely responsible for developing an equal
playing field for all vendors.
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Relies heavily on his Directors and Heads of
departments.
Will listen to creative ideas for improvement
that will leverage his resources and improve
quality of service.
If, you fit the profile, the CIO can be an
excellent resource. Be aware of an extremely
busy calendar.
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Directors…
◦ Responsible for driving Program and major Project
development. Most senior Managers report at this level.
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Heads…
◦ Most often responsible for technology assessment and
direction.
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Senior Manager…
◦ Project Management and delivery
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Broader Public Sector (BPS)
◦ Hospitals, Agencies,
Roads, etc.
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Ontario I&IT
◦ Ministries, Health, Justice, Education, etc.
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What this means to the You!
◦ 45,000 Vendors
◦ Vendor of Record Procurement Practice
◦ Fair, Competitive & Transparent!
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MERX- RFP routine
◦ Invitation to VOR & General Vendor Community
◦ RFP becomes the contract
◦ Contracts in general allow for 10% change, only!
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VOR - RFS routine
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RFP solicitation – every 3 years
A few refreshes at 18 month interval
RFS is generally for bodies, not, project ownership
Usually offered to 3 – 5 VORs (1 winner)
+1,000 released per annum
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Auditors - Internal
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Objective to ensure fair & transparent process
Most troublesome to staff
While rarely used, could be; by either party
Supply Chain Secretariat leading development of
standardized procurement practices
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Legal - Theirs
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Theirs protect the government
Minimize ambiguity
Can seem very difficult, but!
Must work with hundreds of private sector legal
advisers
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Legal - Ours
◦ Ours protect us, if, they understand the process!
◦ Best to use lawyers who are familiar with
government
◦ Can cause serious delays, if not cancellations
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Note:
◦ The government always has a runner-up. At their
discretion they will fall back to this position.
◦ Many contracts have been lost to lack of
understanding, or, the unwillingness to take risks!
◦ The more government experience your lawyer has
the greater the chance for successful negotiations.
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The government likes to deal with large
companies or groups that have clearly
defined leadership
Tend to be specific in focus
Have the attention of the government
Minimizes the effort to inform & education
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2007/2008 Vendor Expenditures
Who is getting the business and how much of
it
Where to focus your valuable resources
Identify companies already well positioned
Identify partnership arrangements
Be aware of the time and tenacity it takes
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2007/2008 Vendor Expenditures
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Greater than $50,000,000
Greater than $20,000,000
Greater than $10,000,000
Greater than $5,000,000
Greater than $1,000,000
Greater than $100,000
Less than $100,000
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The real players invest in the future
They focus and they are reliable and
dependable
They appear to be favored over the rest
They appear to be large companies
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What they are is committed…
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They’re in for the long haul
They build those important relationships
They take a chance on risk
They support their sales team
They meet their objectives and experience success!
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eHealth – Agency (quasi Public operation)
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1.15 billion $
Revamping the entire Health system for Ontario
Only 10 years behind schedule
They are in a mess!
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Clusters – Justice, Community, Health…
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All have major objectives / initiatives
Be aware and try to separate from the crowd
Learn the business of the Cluster
Become strategically important to their needs!
Note: A single Cluster could meet your
business objective for the year!
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The WSIB is a separate business unit and therefore is responsible
for their own welfare.
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That being said they are driven to protect the best interest of the
Government, business, and the general public.
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Insurance is not a bad thing, in fact it protects us all. So, what’s
the problem?
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The Government is trying to figure that out, as we speak! There
are many inside government who agree that the demand for
insurance, especially from small companies/projects can
oversize the actual value of the work to be performed.
Watch for changes to the procurement process.
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The government needs companies of all
sizes. That is it needs to be able to leverage
the Billions $ large multi-nationals invest in
their products and services.
The government also knows that large
companies often means large dollars for
adjunct products & services that are available
through the SME.
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Dilemma! Large companies also means
financial stability, extensibility, project
management, accountability, knowledge and
knowledge transfer.
The Government would like to direct more
work to the SME, the question is how to do
this and protect the interest of the
government / taxpayer.
Using eHealth as the example, the
government must appear to always be fair
and transparent.
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SME - Is a dilemma!
◦ While small business has large business aspirations,
it isn’t always in the position to wait, support,
and/or demand it’s rights
◦ Small Vendors tend to think they must do more,
give up more, and perhaps suck it up more!
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SME - Is a dilemma!
◦ Perhaps on their own, they very well have to!
◦ The government needs the SME, the question is
how to use it and safe guard the project/$$.
◦ Recent economical crisis has had a greater than
major impact on the industry overall.
◦ The SME needs to protect itself from this sort of
thing in the future.
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So, what’s the answer!
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SME - Has to appear to be larger than life
◦ It represents +90% of Canadian business. This is
amazing, but, it is true.
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Here’s a fact…I think!
◦ The government has stated that it wants to do more
with the SME, the question is how!
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Here’s How… Invest, Organize, Educate,
Position!
◦ You can do all of this by working together, as a
community with autonomy!
◦ The YTA, and the OSVA are excellent examples of
unobtrusive communities.
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Invest in the relationships and manage your
expectations
Watch MERX
◦ Refresh VOR list in September
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Collaborate and present a unified face
As much as possible use government
experienced lawyers
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Get a debrief
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Thank you
and
have a great day!
Frank MacKinnon
OSVA
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