One of the most significant activities we became involved in as an organization this summer was the Learning Services procurement opportunity, issued by the Canadian government in August.  This procurement, issued through the MERX system, is soliciting submissions for the establishment of Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements for the delivery of elearning development services. 

Essentially, through these procurement mechanisms, any government department, agency or crown corporation can streamline their procurement of elearning services by selecting suppliers from a list of companies who have been pre-qualified as acceptable providers.  The list of companies that will emerge from this process will be fixed for a period of two years.

In principle, this idea is a good one – creating a more streamlined process for the procurement of goods and services by government.  Unfortunately, the process for selection of suppliers is strongly biased against the vast majority of companies that comprise the Canadian elearning industry. 

There are postings on the Industry News section of the CeLEA web site (see links at right) with more detailed information but, to summarize, our objections are based on the very restrictive criteria on which bidders will be evaluated.  The Mandatory and Point-Rated criteria strongly favour large, full-service companies.  

The vast majority of Canadian elearning companies, regardless of the quality, effectiveness and innovation built into their products and services would most likely not qualify to be considered as suppliers to the Canadian government because of their size.

It should be noted, however, that the procurement will consider consortia of smaller companies that would, collectively, meet the requirements.

The procurement was issued in mid-August with an original close date of September 23.  The close date has changed twice since then, in part due to requests submitted by CeLEA to Public Works and Government Services Canada.  The current close date is October 21.

CeLEA will continue to follow this issue on behalf of the industry and our members, and will make formal contact with the offices of the Ministers of Industry Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the Department of National Defence, to express our concerns.

If you are interested in learning more about this procurement we suggest that you visit www.merx.com to access the original RFP (search for “Learning Services”).   Please draw your own conclusions based on the procurement documentation.