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Regional district to consider pilot project for purchasing practices

Social procurement purchasing trial recommended
qathet Regional District Sandy McCormick and Mark Gisborne
qathet Regional District Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick [left] and Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne. Contributed photos

qathet Regional District (qRD) is moving toward social procurement in its purchasing practices.

At the June 11 committee of the whole meeting, directors considered a staff report pertaining to a social procurement pilot project.

The staff report stated that the purpose is to consider how qRD can begin to incorporate social value criteria into its procurement process and how this practice can be developed, monitored, measured and reported back to the board. The regional district currently does not have a social procurement policy.

The report stated that social value is defined differently in every community, but in its broadest terms, it is a means by which to build a healthier and resilient community.

During this trial phase, staff is proposing to assign a weighting to social value criteria in future regional district calls for bids. These documents, according to the report, will include an opportunity for each proponent submitting a bid for a project to inform qRD about how the organization can assist the regional district in helping to achieve social outcomes of the community as defined in the Powell River Regional Social Planning Program report.

Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he was very pleased that the regional district was moving forward with social procurement. He said he was in favour of the recommendations from staff being proposed but didn’t think they went far enough.

“I think we leave this to staff and see what comes back in 2021 and see if we can adopt a more concrete social procurement policy,” said Gisborne.

Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick said what was being proposed was a pilot project so it will be interesting to see how it evolves.

Electoral area E director Andrew Fall said he supports this policy change. He said he thinks the change being proposed will also better allow for climate change considerations.

McCormick said she was glad to see the recommendations because the regional district was contemplating putting social considerations into the mix when decisions are being made, so this is a good step forward.

The committee carried three motions. The first was that it recommend the regional board forward the qathet Regional District delegation of purchasing authority amendment bylaw to the June 2020 board meeting for its first reading through adoption.

The second was that the committee recommend the board authorize staff to include social value language in future requests for proposals, invitations to tender, et cetera to pilot its use.

The third recommendation was that the effectiveness and impacts of these pilot procurement practices be monitored and measured by staff and reported back to the board in 2021. Fall said once the regional district has a better understanding of the pilot and how social procurement can be done through the request for proposals process, staff can report back to the directors and get a better idea of how it can be included in the business case analysis.