Best Value Procurement Policy to Practice

On the continuing journey of implementing Best Value Procurement in Saskatchewan, Priority Saskatchewan has led the approval of several procurement policies from their Action Plan by the provincial government, including:
- Exemptions in Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
- Best Value Procurement
- Conflict of Interest
- Multi-Stage Procurement
 - Procurement Code of Conduct
- Vendor Debriefing

The policies were developed with industry input, including from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies – Saskatchewan (ACEC-SK). While work is still proceeding on finalizing procurement policies from the remaining Action Plan items, Priority Saskatchewan is now focusing on developing the “how-to” practical implementation pieces.

  
At a joint industry-government Priority Saskatchewan meeting in January, 2016, it was agreed that a Working Group would be formed to provide advisory input into the development of a government construction “how-to” procurement manual. The good news is that significant industry input has been both sought and provided, with ACEC-SK playing a significant role. It is our industry’s best interest to offer feedback on the development of this process because of the alignment of Best Value Procurement with Qualifications-Based Selection. 

Our industry’s recommendation is to make the manual user-friendly to the point that assumptions by more experienced procurement officers are absent. Our industry would like to see the policies clearly laid out such that any first-year procurement officer could understand and implement the concepts within. ACEC-SK will continue to monitor this initiative’s progress and play an active role to ensure the consulting engineering industry’s perspective is heard.


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