Making purchases

1. Assess the Procurement Strategy

Once a request is submitted, the purchasing team evaluates it and determines if a full-length purchasing strategy should be written or if the initial request is sufficient. The complexity and details of the procurement strategy usually depend on the objective’s risk and complexity.

2. Conduct Information Gathering (if necessary)

If UVic has incomplete information about either the material/services that you require, the capabilities of the market to deliver the material, service, or solution required, then additional background research and requests to the market may be useful. The Purchasing Officer handling the procurement will determine which information-gathering tool best fits the situation.

3. Select Competition Level

An Invitational Competition is when a requirement is solicited to a select group of suppliers without an open, public competition. This can be used when the procurement value is between $15,000 and $75,000 or if a prequalified list has been established via a previous competitive process. These can be conducted using the support of Purchasing Services or handled directly by the requesting department.

An Open Competition is the most comprehensive method of procurement and are required for procurements with a value exceeding $75,000. These opportunities are facilitated by Procurement Services in collaboration with the requestor, and will be posted publicly on BC Bid to allow transparent and open procurement as required by Trade Agreements that UVic must follow as a publicly funded institution. Depending on the value, risk and complexity associated with requirements exceeding $75,000, Open Competition timelines can vary.

Direct Awards can be requested when a preferred supplier is known and either the cost of the procurement is below the $75,000, the purchase meets Trade Agreement exemption criteria, or there is no alternative source of supply.  Where a Direct Award request value will exceed $75,000 Purchasing Services will issue an Notice of Intent (NOI) the public market to ensure that there are no challenges from the market. Where a challenge is received, UVic may be required to go through an Open Competition.

4. Set up the Documentation Team

If an invitational or public competition has been selected as the best procurement method, the Purchasing Officer will create a cross-functional team to develop and evaluate competition documents and criteria—the Evaluation Team. The size and complexity of the team depends on the size and complexity of the materials or services being procured, and may include various specialists.

The Purchasing Officer, in consultation with the end user or project manager, prepares the evaluation protocol.

5. Draft and Review Competition Document

Typically, the Purchasing Officer will choose and draft the documents needed for proposals. Therefore, it is important that the Purchasing Officer understands the full scope of work for the contract and associated risks to ensure that the identified risks are addressed in the contract documents. Purchases are user-driven and may include additional subject-matter experts, so the Purchasing Officer will consult as needed.

1. Issue and Advertise the Competition

Once the competition documents are drafted and polished, they will be uploaded to BC Bid for a public competition or sent to invitees. Depending on the scope of the strategy, additional portals such as Merx may be used, as well as other electronic bid media, newspapers, or trade journals.

UVic Procurement Officers are responsible for knowing the procedures related to the electronic portals and can direct any questions to the appropriate source.

2. Communicate Additional Information

All competitors must have access to equal information; therefore, once the competitive documents are released, all communication with suppliers must occur formally. An addendum may be published if the UVic procurement team needs to modify the competition documents for any reason, and may be accompanied by an extension to the closing time. If suppliers ask relevant questions, a Q&A may be prepared and posted.

If relevant, the Purchasing Officer may make arrangements to facilitate a site visit.

3. Receive Responses

Responses must be submitted by the set closing time and through the appropriate method, as detailed in the documents prepared for the purchase. Once recorded, the coordinating purchasing officer reviews the submissions and releases copies to the Evaluation Team. The original documents are retained in the Bonfire Portal and the Purchasing Services archive.

1. Evaluate the Responses

• Non-compliant submissions are set aside for rejection
• Evaluation team members prepare independent evaluations covering their areas of expertise. Evaluators focus on the sections of responses that they have been assigned to evaluate, and conduct their assessments confidentially.
• Evaluation team members enter scores and comments into the Bonfire Evaluation Tool. Results are reconciled to arrive at a single final evaluation matrix that ranks the submissions.
• If all submitted prices are above the estimate, the coordinating purchasing officer will advise the project manager or end-user. The evaluation may proceed or end at this point, depending on whether or not more funds are made available. If a significant change of scope is needed to meet the budget, the procurement process should be cancelled and re-tendered with revisions.  
• If a proponent’s wording is unclear, clarifications may be sought.
• Product demonstrations may be completed during this phase (e.g. software demonstrations based on UVic requirements)
• Once a lead proponent is identified, the Purchasing Officer prepares a Recommendation to Proceed summarising the results, and circulates the document for the necessary approvals.

1. Negotiate, if Required

• If the prepared strategy included plans to negotiate, then negotiations with the lead proponent are begun after the Recommendation to Proceed has approved.
• If negotiations with the lead proponent fail, then negotiations will be initiated with the second-place proponent, and so on.
• If technical approval for an IT Solution is required, Purchasing will help facilitate the engagement with Systems.
• If a Personal Information Impact Assessment is required (PIA), Purchasing will help facilitate the engagement with Privacy.

1. Award Purchase Order or Contract

• Once any required negotiations are concluded, the proponent will be sent an award letter or final contract, as appropriate to the scope and complexity of the project.

1. Debrief Unsuccessful Proponents

• Once the final contract or agreement letter has been received, Purchasing Services will send regret letters to unsuccessful proponents. These letter usually include offers to meet the proponent to discuss their submission (a debrief) and why it was unsuccessful (unless the evaluation was based solely on price).
• When requested by a proponent, debriefings must be conducted by a Procurement Officer and can be requested by unsuccessful proponents help understand why their proposal was not chosen and areas for improvement. Participating in a competitive process costs proponents time and money, and it is to UVic’s benefit to encourage potential suppliers to participate in future competitive processes via a debrief.

2. End of Your Goods’ Use

• Once you no longer need items that have belonged to your department, contact Purchasing Services for proper resale or disposal.
• Items deemed to have potential university use by other UVic departments and researchers will be re-allocated.
• Items with resale or trade-in value will be sold through a fair and competitive process by Purchasing Services. Profits will given to the owning department.
• Items without further use or monetary value will be recycled or disposed of accordingly.