McGill University’s procurement activities are decentralized: Faculty and staff determine their needs and are supported in these activities by Procurement Services.
The general rule calls for procurement contracts to be entered into following a tendering process, so that supplier selection isn’t the result of individuals’ personal preferences and affinities. Approximately eighty-percent (80%) of McGill University’s annual spending with suppliers is made under contracts that resulted from a tendering process. The framework also includes predetermined exceptions allowing the University to enter into contracts with suppliers on a mutual agreement basis. Procurement Services are responsible to determine which of these exceptions, if any, can apply to specific contracts. An additional ten per cent (10%) of annual spending is made under contracts negotiated by Procurement Services on behalf of stakeholders using such exceptions. In all cases, the University is legally and contractually bound to execute its related acquisitions transactions with the suppliers selected for the scope covered by these contracts.
For acquisitions of goods and services not covered by contracts, given the decentralized nature of McGill’s procurement activities, it is the suppliers’ responsibility to market their products and services to the appropriate stakeholders to McGill University’s Faculty and staff. Suppliers can always respond to public calls for tenders, but need to be sponsored in order to participate to tenders by invitation, contract negotiations and / or to have a supplier record created in McGill procurement systems and receive a purchase order.