Vanguard Magazine

30 JUNE/JULY 2021 www.vanguardcanada.com PROCUREMENT Q What are the steps a company/ business need to take to be able to access the SAP Ariba system and how intuitive is it to work with? Businesses are invited to visit our Getting Started page on Canadabuys.canada.ca to find out how to prepare for selling to the Government of Canada. From there, suppliers can find a number of resources available to them, including a registration checklist and step-by-step guide that will help suppliers create an account. We en- courage businesses to register early so that this step is completed and they can put their focus on preparing a bid when the time comes. Millions of companies around the world use SAP Ariba, so some suppliers may al- ready have an account. Suppliers that al- ready have an account will simply need to answer a few additional questions in order to view and bid on Government of Canada tender opportunities. PSPC designed CanadaBuys with suppli- ers to make it easier for them to find and understand government opportunities and our testing with suppliers has shown signif- icant improvements in usability compared to BuyandSell. Q Other than the current training modules available with the SAP Ariba soware, are you planning to conduct additional training sessions in video or other formats to assist suppliers to make full use of CanadaBuys? Our CanadaBuys Resource Center in- cludes a number of helpful how-to articles, step-by-step guides, and videos to sup- port suppliers every step of the way and to make the transition to online procure- ment seamless. Suppliers can also register for one of our Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME) business seminars on finding opportunities and supplying goods and services to the Government of Canada. Q In cases where suppliers encounter difficulties using SAP Ariba, is there a helpline or online chat that they can request real-time help or direction from? If not, are there plans to implement? Our goal is to help suppliers in doing busi- ness with the Government of Canada. That's why our new CanadaBuys Service Desk is an important element in support- ing companies as they transition to, or register in, CanadaBuys. In addition to finding helpful how-to articles and info in our Resource Centre, suppliers can call us, email us, and yes, even chat with us. We're proud to be one of the first Government of Canada services to offer live chat, provid- ing a more modern and convenient means for helping businesses. Our support ser- vices are available Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm EST. Q Will the rest of the information on BuyandSell (for e.g., SACC, Supply Manual, Contract History, etc.) remain on BuyandSell, or will they also be migrated over to CanadaBuys? As stated earlier, the full transition of BuyandSell to CanadaBuys is targeted for Summer 2022. We are beginning to tran- sition content from the Buyandsell web- site to CanadaBuys (e.g. procurement in- formation, policies and guidelines, etc.). The transition is expected to take place in stages. As pages go up on CanadaBuys. canada.ca, content on Buyandsell.gc.ca will be removed or redirected (thereby ensuring only one source for informa- tion). Q For those who are critical about using an online procurement system like SAP Ariba for security reasons or other concerns, what would you say to them? PSPC is committed to protecting the pri- vacy and security of supplier information. CanadaBuys is a safe and secure online environment – our service providers are contractually obligated to fulfill the same comprehensive security measures and re- quirements as those of the Government of Canada. As required in its contract with the Government of Canada, the contractor (Infosys and partners such as SAP), have implemented robust data security mea- sures (including physical, administrative, and technological safeguards) to protect the confidentiality, integrity and accessibil- ity of personal information collected and used on CanadaBuys. In today's world, more and more business is conducted online. With CanadaBuys, and its new suite of online procurement services, PSPC is proud to be moving to doing business with suppli- ers online; as millions of them are already doing across the world. To learn more about CanadaBuys, go to https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en. * Note: Mr. Franco has moved to another Department within the Government of Canada. PSPC is committed to protecting the privacy and security of supplier information. CanadaBuys is a safe and secure online environment.

• Cover