May 2025 Board of Health Meeting - Amendment to WECHU Procurement Policy Resolution

Meeting Date
May 2025 Board of Health Meeting
Meeting Document Type
Resolution
Amendment to WECHU Procurement Policy

BACKGROUND

The current Windsor‑Essex County Health Unit (“WECHU”) Procurement Policy, last revised on July 12, 2023, requires an open competitive procurement process for goods or services with an estimated value of $100,001 or greater. This amount no longer corresponds to the indexed monetary threshold ($121,200) prescribed under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (“CFTA”) and incorporated by reference into the Broader Public Sector (“BPS”) Procurement Directive. Management has requested an interim amendment to prevent misalignment with provincial trade obligations and to avoid unnecessary tendering costs while a fulsome policy rewrite is underway for presentation at a future Board meeting.

DISCUSSION

Section 5.1 of WECHU By‑Law No. 2 – Finance directs the Board of Health (“Board”) to adopt and maintain a procurement policy. The proposed adjustment—raising the open‑competitive threshold from $100,001 to $121,200—simply modernizes the existing policy to match the CFTA index. No other substantive edits are proposed at this time. Administration recommends immediate approval so that upcoming procurements proceed under a policy that is both compliant and operationally efficient.

PROPOSED MOTION

Whereas, section 5.1 of By‑Law No. 2 – Finance authorizes and requires the Board to adopt and maintain a Procurement Policy;

Whereas, the current Procurement Policy mandates an open competitive process for procurements estimated at $100,001 or more;

Whereas, the indexed threshold under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement is $121,200;

Whereas, aligning WECHU’s threshold with the CFTA reduces administrative burden and ensures compliance with provincial trade requirements;

Whereas, a comprehensive review of the Procurement Policy is in progress and scheduled for Board consideration at a future Board meeting;

  1. Now therefore be it resolved
  2. The Board of Health hereby approves an amendment to the Windsor‑Essex County Health Unit Procurement Policy to replace every reference to the dollar amount “$100,001” that triggers an open competitive procurement with the amount “$121,200,” effective immediately.
  3. The Chief Executive Officer (or designate) is authorized and directed to update and publish the amended Procurement Policy document, including conforming changes to tables and appendices, and circulate it to all WECHU staff;
  4. This resolution may be cited as the “2025 Procurement Policy Threshold Alignment Resolution.”

FURTHER THAT, nothing in this resolution limits the discretion of management to conduct an open competitive process below the $121,200 threshold when it is in the best interest of WECHU.

Carried this 15th day of May, 2025.