Setting world-class procurement standards in Canada
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Service New Brunswick: procurement as a business enabler
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SERVICE NEW BRUNSWICK
With a winning procurement strategy underway, Renée Laforest, Vice President of the Finance and Strategic Procurement Division at SNB, highlights how the crown corporation is having a lasting impact on New Brunswick
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W
hether registering land and property or receiving healthcare, the citizens of New Brunswick have definitely crossed
paths with Service New Brunswick (SNB), a crown corporation that provides almost all direct public services on behalf of the government. SNB’s regular clientele includes provincial and federal government agencies, municipalities, lawyers, surveyors, appraisers, realtors, financial institutions, utilities, engineers, consultants and more – this means the organization’s procurement team have a massive, yet vital, task on their hands. Renée Laforest, Vice President of the Finance and Strategic Procurement division, highlights how SNB’s procurement function isn’t just about improving cost efficiency: it’s also about making meaningful change. “Service New Brunswick does strategic procurement for most of the government entities in the entire province including the health
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SERVICE NEW BRUNSWICK
“ We’re starting to have more conversations about value-based procurement, whereby the results are based on outcomes” — Renée Laforest, Vice President, Finance and Strategic Procurement Division, Service New Brunswick 06
sector,” she explains. “Five or six years ago there was an emphasis on cost, and the strategic procurement division was asked to find substantial savings for the government. Therefore, not unlike a lot of procurement teams, we shifted towards a category management strategy.” In essence, this involves clustering similar items that the company wants to buy under a single cost-effective deal. “We have achieved a significant amount of savings through this new strategy,” Laforest enthuses.
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘CELEBRATING INVESTMENT IN NB CÉLÉBRER L’INVESTISSEMENT DANS NOTRE PROVINCE’ 07 However, in the most recent chap-
has implemented a range of innovative
ters of the firm’s procurement journey,
procurement strategies but it seems,
it has shifted towards value-based
in a lot of cases, you can’t underesti-
procurement. This can perhaps be
mate the power of conversation and
best seen within the healthcare
understanding the product or service.
division, notes Laforest: “We’re starting
“We really consider our clients’ needs
to have more conversations about
and requirements when procuring
value-based procurement, whereby
goods and services for them,” Laforest
the results are based on outcomes.
notes. “It’s important that we have these
For example, when we purchase
in-depth conversations, particularly
insulin pumps for diabetes clients,
when it comes to services. If you’re
we’ll carefully look at the needs of
buying a service you may have more
our clients and ensure we meet their
complex needs and requirements,
demands rather than automatically
so this dialogue is critical.”
opting for the cheapest pump.” SNB
Procurement has proven to be at the w w w2 . s n b . ca
SERVICE NEW BRUNSWICK
08 bedrock of SNB’s operations, ensuring that the organization can deliver the vital government services needed to keep the region ticking along. The function has a lasting impact on the people who provide government services, as well as an indirect impact on those who receive them. Yet, notably, the reverberations of SNB’s innovative procurement strategy can be felt by New Brunswick suppliers too. “We’re trying to support New Brunswick suppliers to become prosperous so they can successfully bid to the government,” Laforest explains. “We’re
“ We are trying to support New Brunswick suppliers to become successful so that they can successfully bid to the government” — Renée Laforest, Vice President, Finance and Strategic Procurement Division, Service New Brunswick
trying to explain to them when we can
of technology supply contracts with
give preference to a local supplier
the Government of New Brunswick.
versus having an open tender, and why
“Currently, they hold four separate
we need to do that to support our New
multi-year contracts of supply for
Brunswick companies.” On top of this,
technology goods, including data centre
SNB has shown a flair for supplier
infrastructure and client computing
relationship management (SRM)
equipment,” explains Laforest. “All of
through in-depth conversations,
these contracts were awarded through
outreach programs and more. One
competitive open tenders and support
such company that has worked closely
SNB service delivery to three main parts
with SNB is IMP Solutions, who were
of government: core government
successful in winning a number
departments, education, healthcare.” 09
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Renée Laforest Laforest obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration from the Université de Moncton and is a CPA CGA with 29 years of experience in the civil service. She began her career as an internal auditor at the Office of the Comptroller, then as a treasury officer in accounting services. She then moved to the Department of Health and held various roles in financial services, including the Executive Director role, and also the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Corporate Services where she was responsible for financial services, construction services, health analytics, procurement, emergency preparedness and business technology. Laforest joined Service New Brunswick in June 2017 as Vice President of Strategic rocurement, and become responsible for Financial Services in the Fall 2018.
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SERVICE NEW BRUNSWICK
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$266mn Approximate revenue
1990
Year founded
2,400
Approximate number of employees
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SERVICE NEW BRUNSWICK
Pulling back the curtain of complexity IMP Solutions is a leading “end to end” IT solutions company serving all of Atlantic Canada. As such, we work with a broad range of both public and private sector clients to provision, design, develop, implement, service and support IT solutions. This is accomplished through our various lines of business which include: Hardware/Software Fulfillment Professional Services Advanced Solutions (Networking and Cloud) Technical Services Managed Services
IMP Solutions is proud to be a strategic procurement partner for the Province of New Brunswick. Through competitively secured supply arrangements, IMP Solutions provides both data center (storage and server) and endpoint device (desktop, laptop and accessories) technology to meet the Province’s business needs.
Learn More +
“ I want to really add value for our clients so that they don’t see procurement as a roadblock but rather see it as a valueadding function” — Renée Laforest, Vice President, Finance and Strategic Procurement Division, Service New Brunswick 13 Any business leader will tell you
it to submit their proposals and we
that the procurement sector has been
do all our evaluations within the tool.
a stomping ground for innovation lately
It’s all automated and all our stakeholders
and this hasn’t gone amiss at SNB.
have found it beneficial.”
Laforest describes how the organiza-
Looking at the wider procurement
tion is in the midst of implementing
landscape, Laforest has seen an uptake
a new enterprise resource planning
in innovative procurement practices.
(ERP) system. “We are investing in a
This helps to encourage greater collabo-
new eERP solution for all of govern-
ration with vendors and promotes new
ment, so we need to replace the HR
ways of doing things. “I think the days of
management, financial, and procure-
listing endless requirements for procure-
ment and supply chain systems,” she
ment processes are in the past,” she
explains. This is further compounded
proposes. “In some instances, you may
by the group’s strategic sourcing
know that the business needs to buy
platform used for health sector
a blue chair that’s a particular height,
procurements, Bonfire. “Vendors use
for example, and that’s easy to do. w w w2 . s n b . ca
SERVICE NEW BRUNSWICK
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But when you’re not quite certain what the market has to offer then it’s important to have a process where procurement can be more open. For instance, you may say ‘I need a system to help me track health inspections’ and outline your requirements so vendors could bring forward unique suggestions. It’s fair and transparent and I think it brings about more successful outcomes.” SNB’s procurement success is far from coincidental. The crown corporation has put its weight behind a multi-year procurement integration and it is already reaping the benefits for both the government and its citizens. In the upcoming years, Laforest asserts that SNB will continue to spearhead leading procurement practices so that stakeholders can see the function is not a hindrance but rather, an enabler. “I want to really add value for our clients so that they don’t see procurement as a roadblock but rather see it as a value-adding function,” she affirms.
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Service New Brunswick Head Office Westmorland Place 82 Westmorland Street Room: 200 Floor: 2nd Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada E3B 3L3 T 1-506-457-3581 www2.snb.ca