CHSS Vendor management enables the building of relationships with suppliers and service providers that will strengthen both businesses.
Tenders and agreements:
Within the parameters of the BPS Procurement Directive, CHSS and its member hospitals will seek to establish relationships with our vendors based on trust and mutually shared expert knowledge.
Exercising a fair and transparent competitive strategy, all CHSS negotiations will be completed in good faith and will aim to attain both provider and vendor goals. As part of our selection process, CHSS will evaluate vendor experience, service level(s) and overall quality of the required product or service. Moreover, CHSS will look to negotiate efficiencies for our membership such as: increased customer satisfaction, reduced costs, enhanced quality, and improved levels of customer service. Ultimately, CHSS will build partnerships with vendors while also encouraging a healthy marketplace by welcoming new players which are able to provide value. On average, our contract terms will be for a period of three to five years with an additional two optional years. Agreements need to be long enough to manage implementations and conversions, but short enough to benefit from market and technology improvements. Below is a breakdown of the CHSS competitive process.
- Competitive Process:
- Business over $100K for the length of the agreement, including optional years, will be tendered publicly on BravoSolution Ontario Tenders Portal (OTP).
- Business under $100K will be tendered either on OTP or by invitation.
- Bid evaluations: a working group will be created and bids will be scored based on established mandatory and rated requirements followed by pricing.
- Agreements will be negotiated with the chosen proponents and the contract award will be posted.
- Proponents will have the opportunity to be debriefed following the tendering process.
HealthPRO Procurement Services Inc.:
CHSS and its member hospitals are regionally aligning sourcing activities with our Group Purchasing Organization (HealthPRO). CHSS will encourage the vendor community to participate in HealthPRO initiatives in order to maximize spend opportunities with CHSS members.
Vendor performance:
CHSS will monitor vendor performance during the terms of all contracts. We will meet at mutually agreed upon times to discuss requirements such as quality of service performed, order completion, call answer time, etc. A well established and well maintained line of communication will avoid misunderstandings and proactively address issues.
Vendor relationship with member hospitals:
As part of the CHSS vendor management, we aim to share information and priorities with our vendors. Since CHSS is exclusively Sourcing, vendors will continue to meet with Purchasing staff within our member hospitals for operational issues, support, and the like. CHSS will be involved on the contracting/tendering initiatives and with ongoing vendor relationship management. Our hospitals participate on our Operations Committee (Material Management Directors and Managers) in order to plan, strategize and share their objectives and issues.