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Over the past several decades our clients have achieved their business objectives and benefited from our assistance in designing and implementing their procurement processes. Bay Consulting Group partners have successfully completed procurement assignments with a total contract value exceeding $3 billion for a variety of public sector outsourcing initiatives.

The benefits our clients have achieved flow directly from the approach we use, the expertise we bring and our attention to pragmatic, long lasting business results. Each stage of the procurement process provides an opportunity to realize business objectives.

• Procurement Strategy - If you don't have one you should. Procurement is one means to achieve a business objective. Outsourcing, a partnership between the supplier and the government, needs to create space so the vendor can apply their creativity and unique capabilities.

•  Vendor Development - Often outsourcing requires vendors to see procurement offerings in different ways. Bay Consulting Group has worked with clients to ensure that the best vendors recognize the opportunities and organize themselves to respond effectively. We have worked to communicate the opportunity and develop vendor interest in responding to public sector initiatives. For West Park Hospital, we helped find a vendor when none of the standard respondents could bring the needed creativity and passion to the table.

• Procurement Documents - The most important description of requirements is contained in the RFP. It must be clear, precise and comprehensive to ensure that the client receives qualified proposals from competent vendors. From the vendors' perspective, the document must communicate the business objectives and provide flexibility to add their own unique expertise.

• Evaluation and Selection - Public procurement is founded on the principles of fairness, transparency and equity. The evaluation and selection process is critical in ensuring that vendors are treated fairly and that there will be no legal recourse for government decisions. For the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology, we designed a comprehensive evaluation template and trained the evaluation team to assess all proposals against a fixed set of criteria. For the Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care, we tested the evaluation criteria and led the client though the assessment process to ensure that both objective and subjective considerations were considered. In all assignments we encourage the client to debrief both the unsuccessful and successful proponents.

• Contract Negotiation - The contract is the enduring legal arrangement that bridges between procurement and service delivery. The negotiation process should be well structured to ensure all business requirements are met and issues are resolved. We work diligently to filter the myriad of details so that the negotiations can focus attention on the critical few. For the Electronic Service Delivery initiative of the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services, Bay Consulting Group brought rigour to collapse all issues into the most meaningful few. We also developed an understanding of the client's business drivers that would contribute to the long-standing business relationship.

• Contract / Service Management - Public sector outsourcing changes the relationship between the service provider and the customer. The government role changes from rowing to steering. For the Health Network System we evaluated the conditions necessary for success in managing a multi-year, multi-million dollar IT contract. We compared the service management environment with world-wide best practice and we made recommendations in the areas of organization and staffing, performance measurement, management information and reporting, and business processes and practices.

Bay Consulting Group is founded on the principle of bringing practical, real world experience to achieve the business objectives of our clients. Our clients tell us that they value our project organization, discipline, consultative approach and pragmatic dedication to achieving results. Public sector procurement is a complex but manageable process, which we understand through all phases. Bay Consulting Group can bring similar benefits to your procurement initiatives.