ACEC Appears Before House Of Commons Government Operations Committee

On April 23, ACEC was invited to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations to discuss federal procurement policy –appearing on ACEC’s behalf was the President of the Consulting Engineers of Ontario John Gamble, and ACEC past Chair Andrew Steeves. ACEC used the opportunity to advocate for federal government-wide adoption of Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) as the preferred procurement method for selecting professional engineers. Using evidence and supporting documents such as the InfraGuide Best Practices document, a soon-to-be published report commissioned by the American Public Works Association (APWA) looking at the benefits of

John Gamble (left), President of Consulting Engineers of Ontario, and Andrew Steeves (right), past Chair of ACEC and member of the InfraGuide Best Practices technical committee, meet with Committee Chair Derek Lee, MP (Scarborough-Rouge River) in advance of the hearing to brief him on QBS.

QBS, and the 2008 Quebec provincial legislation mandating QBS in all provincial departments, Mr. Gamble and Mr. Steeves made a strong case for the use of QBS before the Parliamentary Committee.

As a follow-up to this appearance, ACEC will be writing the Committee, providing copies of the forthcoming APWA study and other possible material. ACEC is also following up with staff of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, the Hon. Christian Paradis, to identify who in the department could help to drive procurement reform forward. With a newly revamped Procurement Committee, these steps are just the first to more aggressively promote usage of the InfraGuide Best Practices document and Qualifications Based Selection among as wide a cross section as possible of public and private owners.