FAQs

According to the Municipal Act, 2001, a municipality is required to adopt and maintain policies with respect to its procurement of goods and services.

The purpose of this By-law is to:

• Express the City’s goals and objectives in relation to its procurement activities;
• Describe the roles and responsibilities and authority of Council and City staff in carrying out the City’s procurement activities; and
• Comply with the requirements of subsection 270(1) of the Municipal Act and applicable trade treaty obligations.

The bylaw was amended in late 2017 to reflect obligations of the new trade treaties at that time, including an expansion of delegated authority provisions given the binding nature of the evaluation criteria of the new trade treaty rules. The bylaw was last updated in 2018 to reflect recommended changes to workers compensation insurance requirements for vendors. Prior to these updates, the Purchasing Bylaw had not had a substantive review or update since 2006.

The last substantive update to the City’s purchasing bylaw was in 2006. Since then, changes in business practice and level of spending as well as more recent changes to trade treaty legislation have resulted in a need to develop and adopt an updated bylaw that will govern the City’s procurement operations. 

The updated bylaw will support open, transparent, fair, and competitive procurement practices, enable the ability to leverage technology, provide efficiencies in the process, offer more flexibility in pursuing innovative approaches in procurement and address the ever-expanding trade treaty requirements.

The proposed bylaw was originally drafted by the Procurement Office, an external firm that specializes in public sector procurement and policy. When drafting the proposed amendments, the Procurement Office took into account the requirements of the relevant trade agreements, as well as best practice research and comparative analysis of other Ontario municipalities. The proposed bylaw reflects extensive reviews by both the City’s Financial Services and Legal Services teams, as well as City departments.

The proposed bylaw includes the following principles and objectives that will govern the City’s procurement activities: 

• Comply with applicable legislation, trade treaties, policies, protocols and procedures; 
• Encourage open, fair and transparent processes that ensures equal access to all suppliers; 
• Adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct; 
• Achieve an effective balance between accountability and efficiency; 
• Achieve best value through consideration of the full range of procurement methods and the adoption of commercially reasonable business practices;
• Provide for reciprocal non-discrimination and geographic neutrality in accordance with applicable trade treaty obligations; 
• Incorporate environmental and green procurement practices and consider environmental factors in the procurement planning process wherever possible; 
• Incorporate social procurement practices and consider inclusion and diversity factors in the procurement planning process wherever possible; and 
• Support effective business planning such that deliverables will only be acquired after assessing need, alternatives, timing and when applicable, life cycle management & sustainable procurement practices.

The bylaw does not disadvantage local suppliers, nor does it favour them. According to trade treaties and other provincial legislation, it is illegal to give procurement preference to a local supplier. However it is appropriate, where applicable, for local companies to leverage an indirect advantage because of their proximity to a project or their awareness of the broader local landscape.

Procurement and purchasing are terms that are often used interchangeably, however, purchasing is only a single step in the procurement process. 

Procurement refers to the end-to-end strategic process of product or service sourcing, which can include items such as procurement planning market analysis and sourcing strategy, contract negotiation, and supplier management. Purchasing focuses more specifically on how products and services are actually acquired, including market advertising and vendor selection, issuing purchase orders and arranging for payment. 

The diagram below outlines the end-to-end procurement process.

Yes! The proposed bylaw identifies three types or procurement: standard, non-standard and emergency.

Standard: This is the most common way that goods and services are procured and refers to the method of procurement normally required by the bylaw based on the type and value of the good or service, such as the use of a request for proposal or tender in a competitive process. 

Non-standard: The acquisition of deliverables through a process or method other than the standard procurement method that is normally required. (e.g. procuring goods or services from a particular supplier without conducting a competitive process when required or integrating procurement requirements into a neighbouring municipality’s competitive process under a cost sharing agreement.   

Emergency: This procurement method is used when there is a need to acquire deliverables in an expedited manner. An emergency is defined as an unforeseeable situation or event that puts at risk public health or safety, the maintenance of essential services, or the security of the City’s interests, including public property.

It is the role of Council to establish policies that will consider the interests of the municipality and ensure the financial integrity of the municipality. This is accomplished with the approval of a procurement bylaw as well as the approval of expenditures through the City’s budget process. The procurement bylaw also provides for the delegation of authority by Council to City staff to procure goods and services in accordance with the rules and processes as set out in the bylaw. 

In accordance with municipal best practice and trade treaty legislation, there is a need for clear separation of political and administrative functions with respect to procurement operations. To avoid the potential appearance of bias or political influence in procurement award decisions, it is recommended that members of Council not be involved in the competitive procurement processes.

To facilitate Council’s oversight role in respect of significant projects, Council may require departments to obtain approval to initiate specific procurements by identifying procurement projects of interest, such as procurements that are of a high value or involve significant risk. Council may also require regular reporting of the City’s procurement activities. These oversight requirements are defined in the procurement bylaw. 

The City uses an online procurement platform called Biddingo to promote awareness of its procurement opportunities – including Tenders, Requests for Quotation, Requests for Proposal, Requests for Information and other related bid information – and to accept bid submissions electronically. The use of Biddingo’s portal ensures an open, fair, transparent and streamlined bidding process and offers suppliers free access to:

Online Vendor Registry | Advertisements/Bid Scope | Solicitation/Bid Documents | Document Takers | Amendments/Addenda | Online Submission of Bids/Proposals | Bid Results | Awards

Access Biddingo at www.biddingo.com/kingston.

The proposed procurement bylaw incorporates principles that will support the future development of environmental and social procurement practices. The principles will provide the opportunity to consider and embed environmental and green procurement practices as well as social procurement practices, including equity, diversity and inclusion, into our procurement planning and evaluation processes.