By André Fecteau
The Canadian government is trying to address concerns raised by owners of small firms across the country about changes to how government contracts are awarded. There is a fear that the new policies could put small and medium businesses at a disadvantage.
The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME), created in April, is holding workshops across the country on how to improve the system. These workshops will be held in Ottawa in late November.
But Nadja Corkum, president of ACR Communications, near downtown Ottawa, didn’t wait until November to express her concerns.
She and five other Ottawa business owners attended a workshop held on Sept. 30 in Toronto.
She says businesses from different backgrounds were represented and she was “impressed how (the workshop) was run,” especially because Public Works and Government Services Minister Scott Brison was also attending.
Corkum says she fears her company will be affected by the government’s contracting policies.
“There’s been a lot of controversy and insecurity and angst about this whole process and how this is going to apply for communication services,” she says.
The first problem is due to the nature of the services offered by the communications firms. The small businesses need to keep bidding on small contracts, because “the kind of work … is rather piecemeal,” says Corkum.
But they can’t afford to employ full-time procurement staff.
This puts them at a disadvantage compared to larger companies with bigger budgets when they lobby for contracts.
The process’ second flaw is about a new “pre-qualification” requirement, Corkum says.
The new system requires every company in every industry to have done business in general (not just with the government) for a certain number of years.
Young companies will have a hard time proving this because they are, after all, young.
This is the case even if their owners have been employed for several years in their industry.
Larger companies, on the other hand, often have
employees devoted to procurement and they can easily prove they’ve been in the business for years, which Corkum says gives them an advantage over smaller firms.
Marshall Moffat, director general of the OSME, says it’s important to listen to complaints of smaller firms because the government needs a good and fair competition between large and small companies.
In the end, he says, “it’s a better value to taxpayers,” because if the government can find better deals, the taxpayers pay less.
Garth White, executive vice-president at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says the creation of the OSME is a good idea.
“But the jury is still out. They have to move quicker,” he says.
White says the longer unfair procurement policies remain, the more small businesses are being turned away from the federal government market.
“It’s difficult [for them] to follow the rules,” he says.
And if small and medium businesses can’t compete for government contracts, he adds, taxpayers may not get the most for their money.