Key stakeholders and industry contacts

Introduction

• Shared Services Canada (SSC) maintains strong relationships with vendors, industry associations and organizations in the information technology (IT) sector. SSC primarily engages with the IT vendor community in four general ways:
  
  
  • dedicated vendor relations led by the Procurement and Vendor Relations directorate;
  • the Collaborative Procurement Process;
  • the Information Technology Infrastructure Roundtable (ITIR); and
  • the collaboration of senior executives at SSC with senior officials of key market players.
• A list and description of key vendors and industry associations is attached in Annex A.

Strategic context: challenges and opportunities

• SSC has made significant changes in the way the Government of Canada procures and supports IT infrastructure. SSC is working with the vendor community to consolidate contracts, deliver cost savings and increase efficiencies. For example, SSC inherited 207 contracts from partner departments for McAfee anti-virus security software and recently consolidated them all under a single negotiated two-year enterprise-wide contract worth $14.75 million. It is estimated that SSC benefited from cost avoidance of approximately 40% on legacy equipment and will receive a discount of 45% on any net new equipment.
  
• A Vendor Relations capacity is integral to this engagement. Its key role being part of SSC’s core procurement function, which is aimed at ensuring a consistent and sustained commitment between SSC and the vendor communities with whom we do business – above and beyond any specific procurement initiatives.
  
• The Collaborative Procurement Process has been designed to engage with industry at an early stage (pre-Request For Proposal) to co-develop requirements and to increase the effectiveness of the procurement process without sacrificing its efficiency. Early engagement with industry leverages the expertise and best practices in a given sector to refine requirements, procurement processes, and the implementation of acquired solutions.
  
• Finally, the ITIR brings together representatives from government and 12 organizations from the IT sector, representing small, medium and large companies across Canada. The ITIR provides opportunities for vendors to demonstrate their best practices, engage in policy discussions and provide feedback on IT architecture plans in a collaborative environment.

Strategic direction

• Stakeholder engagements are an effective way for SSC’s leadership to remain apprised of any new or emerging issues from our vendors and/or in the IT sector at large, whether they are at the ITIR, its sub-committees or direct meetings.
  
• SSC will continue to foster strategic engagement opportunities with the IT vendor community and IT industry associations.
  
• SSC’s Corporate Services branch will continue to provide recommendations on vendor and industry engagement.

Content Responsibility
Program Lead: Pat Breton, Director General, Procurement and Vendor Relations
Responsible SADM/ADM: Elizabeth Tromp, A/SADM Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer

Annex A

List of Key Vendors and Industry Associations