Centralized Procurement – Expanded Mandate for Priority Saskatchewan

In the Throne Speech on October 24, 2018, it was announced that Priority Saskatchewan’s mandate has been expanded.  It will now be the central portal for procurement for all provincial government Ministries (executive arm of government).  At this juncture, it will not include provincial Crown Corporations.

Right from the inception of Priority Saskatchewan in 2012, ACEC-SK has worked hard to participate in private sector consultations to ensure the procurement needs of consulting engineers were heard.  Procuring professional services in the construction industry is a very complex process, and your association relayed this message to decision-makers over and over again.

ACEC-SK participated with other stakeholders to emphasize that procurement standardization was a priority for the private sector.  Differing requirements from various government entities makes the procurement process significantly more complex for industry.  

Priority Saskatchewan heard industry, and is now taking it one step further, not only standardizing the procurement process across Ministries, but it is now centralizing it.

ACEC-SK will continue to offer its assistance to streamline the process.  We know there will be some bumps along the road as alignment of governmental resourcing occurs.  Our message will continue to be that the technical aspects of procurement must remain at individual Ministries as this is where the subject matter experts reside.  

The rolling out of this centralized procurement portal is something that we will continue to monitor closely and will report updates as we have them.

November 8, 2018