Procurement Changes to comply with BOBI effective May 1, 2024
Please be advised that the provincial government recently passed a new act called Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act, 2022 (BOBI) which has a significant impact on how the procurement is undertaken moving forward.
The Act, which came into effect on April 1, 2024, intends to provide Ontario-based businesses access to more government and public sector procurement opportunities. This Act applies to all Ontario Public Sector Entities (including government agencies, hospitals, schools, colleges, and universities). Under this Act, an Ontario business is defined as a supplier, manufacturer or distributor of any business structure that conducts its activities on a permanent basis in Ontario, and the business either has its headquarters or main office in Ontario or has at least 250 full-time employees in Ontario.
To be compliant with BOBI, we will be making changes to ALL our procurement documents (RFx).
(a) Request for Quotations (RFQ) – where staff undertakes new sourcing event for goods, services and equipment themselves (without engaging purchasing staff), they are required to follow the changes outlined below. If the RFQ procurement value falls between $20,000 and $99,999, there are TWO (2) options to choose from when determining how the quotes will be evaluated and this must be communicated to the THREE (3) vendors invited to quote. You must decide prior to requesting the quotes whether you will evaluate on:
(i) Price only – with this option, Ontario Businesses receive a 10 per cent evaluation advantage on the pricing, or
(ii) Price and Rated Criteria – with this option, Ontario Businesses will receive a 10 per cent advantage on the rated criteria.
The Invitational Procurement Evaluation Form provides guidance on how to apply the 10 per cent evaluation advantage. From May 1, 2024, all purchase requisitions for goods and/or services awarded through an invitational competitive procurement must include a completed Humber Invitational Procurement Evaluation Form.
(b) Request for Proposal (RFP) – when working with the Purchasing Team including Ontario specific rated criteria will be a requirement. To meet the BOBI requirements, a minimum of 25 per cent of the evaluation criteria must be attributed to Ontario Businesses. Purchasing will provide guidance on how to apply the 25 per cent criteria for your sourcing event to ensure compliance to BOBI while meeting your needs and requirements.
We will be asking all vendors who are responding to sourcing events including RFQ and RFP to complete a Humber Vendor Attestation Form to verify if they are an Ontario or Canadian business.
To assist users with this new requirement, drop in education and rraining sessions will be offered in the next two weeks – please check the Communiqué for dates and times. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to us or a member of the Purchasing team should you have any questions and/or concerns.
Thank you.
| Kelly Tsoumagas, CPA, CGA Director, Financial Services |
Kevin Viflanzoff, MBA, CSCMP Associate Director, Purchasing |
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