LAURIE WEIR
SMITHS FALLS — Council is supporting a major rewrite of its procurement policy that would reset the way the town purchases goods and services, streamline internal approvals, and give preference to Canadian suppliers while keeping oversight intact on high-value or sole-sourced contracts.
At the July 21 committee meeting, Director of Corporate Services Paul Dowber and CAO Malcolm Morris outlined the draft document, which separates policy from procedure for the first time.
“One of the big changes is breaking down the policy from the procedures,” Dowber said. “The policy sets the overall direction for procurement, while the procedures provide the practical guidance on how to achieve that direction.”
This structural change will allow staff to update internal processes more easily without requiring council to reopen the bylaw for minor adjustments. The procedures manual, still in draft form, is expected to include 15 pages of formal direction and over 100 pages of appendices for reference and audit support.
The proposed policy also updates purchasing thresholds to reflect inflation and current best practices. Contracts under $10,000 would no longer require formal tendering, while those between $10,000 and $130,000 could be handled by staff using competitive quotes or formal requests for proposals. Anything over $130,000, or sole-sourced contracts above $10,000, would still come to council for approval.
“We’re not cutting council out,” Dowber said. “If it’s under $130,000 and within the budget, staff will proceed with procurement and come back to council with information.”
Morris said the town is also responding to broader trade issues by including a Buy Canadian appendix to the policy. That language allows for a slight scoring preference for Canadian suppliers in certain cases, especially for contracts below international trade thresholds.
“It’s about ultimately employing Canadians and having that domino effect in the Canadian economy,” Morris said. “If the U.S. or European producer employs Canadians on Canadian soil … we think that’s a good filter.”
Several councillors supported the general direction of the draft policy, though some asked for adjustments, particularly around thresholds and the handling of sole-source contracts.
“The numbers are quite a bit higher looking,” Coun. Chris McGuire noted. “I’d like to see the upper threshold a bit lower.”
Staff confirmed that the proposed values were vetted by a procurement lawyer based on the town’s size, budget, and purchasing patterns. Morris added: “There’s no magic to those numbers … but proportionately, they make sense in today’s economy.”
Council agreed the update is long overdue existing procurement policy was adopted in 2004 and last amended in 2007.
The draft policy will return to council with revised language on the Buy Canadian provisions and additional feedback before adopting it.
