BACKGROUND
The current Windsor‑Essex County Health Unit (“WECHU”) Procurement Policy, last revised on April 24, 2025 and approved the Board of Health at its meeting of May 15, 2025, requires further amendments as follows:
- Updated approval limit thresholds based on procurement value.
- Updated and modernized policy wording where applicable and the removal of redundant sections.
- Updated limit for annual reporting to the Board of Health of details of all contracts awarded from contracts in excess of $50,000 to contracts in excess of $121,199.
- Removed the requirement to complete an open competitive procurement to secure services of a financial institution or to secure insurance brokerage services every ten (10) years.
- Introduced purchasing cards (P-card) as a payment method and added a new Appendix U that contains the P-card Standard Operating Procedure.
There were no changes to existing Appendices but are available in the following link for reference:
Procurement Policy - Appendices A-T
DISCUSSION
Section 5.1 of WECHU By‑Law No. 2 – Finance directs the Board of Health (“Board”) to adopt and maintain a procurement policy. Further, it requires that the Procurement Policy will be reviewed on a two (2) year basis, or more frequently, if appropriate. The Procurement Policy amendment was approved by the Board of Health on May 15, 2025 to raise the open-competitive threshold from $100,001 to $121,200 simply to modernize the existing policy to match the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (“CFTA”). At that time, Administration indicated that a more fulsome policy review would be conducted and brought back to the Board of Health through the Board Finance and Audit Committee at a future Board meeting.
PROPOSED MOTION
WHEREAS Section 5.1 of By-Law No. 2 – Finance requires the Board of Health to adopt and maintain a procurement policy.
AND WHEREAS, a review of the Procurement Policy has been undertaken and presented through the Finance and Audit Committee.
AND WHEREAS, at its meeting of September 8, 2025, the Finance and Audit Committee passed a motion recommending to the Board of Health the adoption of amendments to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Procurement Policy, as set out in the report to the Finance and Audit Committee dated September 8, 2025.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Board of Health approves the amendments to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Procurement Policy, as set out in the report to the Board of Health dated September 18, 2025, including as follows:
- Updating approval limit thresholds based on procurement value;
- Modernizing and clarifying policy wording and removing redundant sections;
- Raising the reporting threshold for contracts requiring annual reporting to the Board of Health from $50,000 to $121,199;
- Removing the requirement to complete an open competitive procurement to secure financial institution services or insurance brokerage services every ten (10) years; and
- Introducing Purchasing Cards (P-cards) as a payment method, together with a new Appendix U containing the P-card Standard Operating Procedure.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Executive Officer (or designate) is authorized and directed to update and publish the amended Procurement Policy document, make conforming changes to tables and appendices, and circulate the revised policy to all WECHU staff. This resolution may be cited as the “2025 Procurement Policy Amendment Resolution.”
Carried this 18th day of September, 2025.