REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Transcription

1 LGMA of BC and GFOA of BC Development and Delivery of Procurement Toolkit for Local Governments in BC REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS The Local Government Managerial Association of BC(LGMA) and the Government Finance Officers Association of BC(GFOABC) requests proposals from professional qualified, experienced consulting firms to develop and deliver a Procurement Toolkit for local government in BC. The LGMA and GFOA will lead a one-year pilot program to convert Auditor General for Local Government (AGLG) advice into scalable sample bylaws, policies, procedures, and forms for use by local governments to more effectively implement the AGLG recommendations. The Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development, Municipal Finance Authority, Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Civic Info BC, and Audit Council for the Auditor General of Local Government have formed a Steering Committee to oversee this pilot program. The main objectives of this pilot-project are outlined below: Develop a Procurement Toolkit to be made electronically available to all local governments with sample capital planning and procurement procedures and forms. Eliminate time consuming and costly local government administrative duplication of effort. Provide practical tools to make local government more transparent, accountable and cost-effective. Demonstrate efforts by local governments to ensure taxpayers are receiving good value for money in local government procurement and capital planning projects. Obtaining RFP Documents

2 RFP Documents are available from GFOA of BC WEBSITE Printing of RFP documents is the sole responsibility of the Proponents Proposals will be received on or before 2:00 pm local time March 4, 2016 Inquiries Questions are to be submitted no later than 3 business days prior to the closing date quoting the RFP name and sent to janice.aver@gfoabc.ca Proposals Submissions The LGMA and GFOABC reserves the right to accept or reject any or all Proposals or accept a Proposal deemed to be in the best interest of the Project. The LGMA and GFOABC will not be responsible for any costs incurred by Proponents in preparing a response.

3 Definitions Consultant means the person(s), firm(s), or corporation(s) appointed by the Owner to carry out all duties, obligations, work and services described in the Request for Proposal and all associated documentation, which may also include mutually agreed revisions subsequent to the submission of a Proposal. Both Consultant and Proponent are complementary in terms of duties, obligations and responsibilities at the Request for Proposal stage, through evaluation process, execution and delivery of services. Owner means LGMA and GFOABC. Procurement Toolkit means the resource materials developed by the Working Group and Consultant. Project means the identification of procurement toolkit materials and development of resource materials, both paper and electronic, and the subsequent delivery through training sessions, both in person and by webinar. Proponent means responder to this Request for Proposal. Proposal means the submission by the Proponent. Services means and includes the provision by the successful Proponent of all services, work, duties and expectations as further described in this RFP. This will also mean the whole of the work, tools, materials, labour, equipment, travel, and all that is required to be completed and furnished by the consultant. Steering Committee means the members of the committee formed by The Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development, Municipal Finance Authority, Union of British Columbia Municipalities, CivicInfo BC, and Audit Council for the Auditor General of Local Government. Working Group means volunteer members from local government supply chain management and purchasing practitioners, along with local government auditees.

4 Project Description The LGMA and GFOABC requests proposals from qualified, experienced purchasing professional firms or individuals to compile a Procurement Toolkit for Local Government in BC. The LGMA and GFOA will lead a one-year pilot project to convert AGLG advice into scalable sample bylaws, policies, procedures, and forms for use by local governments to more effectively implement the AGLG recommendations. The Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development, Municipal Finance Authority, Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Civic Info BC, and Audit Council for the Auditor General of Local Government have formed a Steering Committee to oversee this pilot program. Presently, a local government must evaluate their processes and capacity for improvements towards a specific good practice, canvas other local governments for their practices and tools if they exist, or search the internet or Civic Info for source materials. Each individual effort involves staff time and resources and, in many cases, expensive legal or accounting consultation. Having a resource with a sample set of good practice materials sense both administratively and financially. Building on the experiences of both the LGMA and GFOA in the development of other resources to support key local government competencies, such as in human resource, records management, freedom of information, and approving officer functions, this pilot will focus on developing a Procurement Toolkit to support capital planning and procurement processes to meet the intense focus on infrastructure replacement at all levels of government and to improve local government accountability transparency, and cost effective project management. In keeping with the collaborative volunteer model that has been successful in designing and implementing training programs for both GFOA and the LGMA, a Working Group comprised of local government supply chain management and purchasing practitioners, along with local government auditees, will be established to review AGLG recommendations, identify priority toolkit materials, select an independent contractor to compile the toolkit materials, and vet the final product. The Working Group will keep the Steering Committee updated on key project milestones and achievements

5 and the Steering Committee members will assist with the dissemination of the toolkit. Background The Province established the Auditor General for Local Government function in 2012 to "conduct performance audits of the operations of local government in order to provide local governments with objective information and relevant advice that will assist them in their accountability to their communities for the stewardship of public assets and the achievement of value for money in their operations." To date, the Auditor General for Local Government (AGLG) has completed 12 audits and two Perspective Series. The audits and Perspective Series are informative and helpful to local governments, though there is a need to further refine the AGLG recommendations into practical resources to support local governments, particularly small to medium ones facing capacity challenges, to implement the audit recommendations. The Local Government Management Association (LGMA) and Government Finance Officers' Association (GFOA) are ideally placed to provide support for practical tools such as sample bylaws, policies, forms and procedures to assist local governments to respond effectively to the recommendations from the AGLG Reference Material The AGLG has completed 12 audits and 2 perspective series that can be accessed on their WEBSITE at Of particular interest to this project are the following reports; Perspectives booklet - Learnings from Local Government Capital Procurement Projects and Asset Management Programs Oversight of Capital Project Planning & Procurement Published April 2014 Perspectives booklet - Learnings from Local Government Capital Procurement Projects and Asset Management Programs Asset Management for Local Governments Published July 2015 Perspectives Booklet Improving Local Government Procurement Published January 2016

6 The audit reports, which are also accessible on the AGLG website, may also help to identify useful information that might form part of a Procurement Toolkit. Scope of Services The consultant will work with the Working Group to identify priority toolkit materials and compile the identified toolkit materials. The consultant will identify and facilitate all the meetings required with the Working Group to ensure completion of project as outlined in the Timeline. The consultant will compile all materials for the Procurement Toolkit in a format that can be made available in both paper manual and electronic format which will be available to all local government in BC. The materials will include, but not be limited to: Sample bylaws, policies, procedures and forms Procurement Processes definitions Procurement Project Justification Procurement Project Checklists Procurement risk assessment checklist The consultant will work with LGMA and GFOABC to deliver various training sessions of the toolkit pilot in May and June 2016, during annual conferences. The consultant will develop all training material required to deliver two 90 minute sessions and one full day program. The consultant will develop and a Quarterly WEBINAR series which will be used for ongoing training in application and use of the Procurement Toolkit. LGMA and GFOABC will provide the resources to format and promote the Procurement Toolkit to its members and this work does not form part of the scope of services for this proposal.

7 Work Plan Proponents must provide a work plan in the proposal. The work plan is to include a schedule of project tasks, milestones, sequence of tasks and details concerning implementation and completion dates for each task. Time Line Appointment of Consultant March 15, 2016 First Meeting with Working Group March 18, 2016 Identify required materials March 18, 2016 First Draft of Procurement Toolkit April 30, 2016 Test First draft at GFOA Annual Conference Full day pilot program May 31, minute session June 1, 2016 Test application of first draft toolkit at LGMA Annual Conference 90-minute session June 15, 2016 Final Draft Completed September 1, 2016 Develop and Deliver Quarterly WEBINAR June to September 2016 Series Cost Estimate The Consultant shall provide a detailed cost estimate identifying the level of effort and cost associated with the proposed Work Plan. Budget The LGMA and GFOABC have a budget of $25,000 for work as described in Scope of Services. Instructions for Proposal Submission

8 Proposals will be submitted by to GFOA of BC in the following format. 1. Name of Project 2. Name of Individual or Organization making the proposal 3. Contact Information for Proponent to include a. Address b. Phone number c. address d. Website (if applicable) 4. Experience and Qualifications of individual or individual s who will be involved in the project 5. Total Hours required to complete project 6. Fees for each component of the Proposal 7. Work Plan for each component of the project No Binding Contract The Owner may, after reviewing Proposals received, enter into discussion with one or more of the Proponents, without such discussion in any way creating a binding contract between the Owner and any Proponent. Intellectual Property Rights LGMA and GFOABC will become the owner of the materials requested and provided as defined as deliverable under this RFP. Closing Date Friday March 4, 2016 at 2:00pm PST