Ministry of Education Vendor Complaint Review Process

The ministry is committed to fair, open and competitive procurement in its acquisition of goods and services. The Vendor Complaint Review Process (VCRP) is an integral part of this commitment.

If you have an issue or complaint with a ministry contract competition, contract award or proposed contract award, the following steps are available for having your concern reviewed:

Step 1 - Informal:

Get in touch with the procurement contact (named in the procurement notice or package) in person, by phone or e-mail.  You may find that your question or complaint can be satisfied in this way, informally.

If you do not know the contact, or cannot locate them, get in touch (eg. phone, FAX or e-mail) with the ministry's Procurement Manager, who will forward it to the appropriate person:

Nicola Franks
Management Services Branch
PO BOX 9178 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC  V8W 9H8
Phone: (778) 698-1448     FAX: (250) 953-4985
E-mail: Nicola.Franks@gov.bc.ca

Step 2 - Formal Review Process:

If you are still unsatisfied, the next step is the Vendor Complaint Review Process (VCRP) where you can submit your complaint in writing to the procurement contact or Contract Services Advisor and it will be addressed.

Complaints must concern a contract competition, or a pending or awarded contract, and can be submitted any time during the competition process, and up to thirty (30) business days after you have received notification from the ministry of the final outcome of the competition.

The VCRP is limited to issues of procurement policy and procedures.  It is not available for issues related to vendor or ministry contract performance or conduct during a contract.  These issues are dealt with through the dispute resolution processes identified in the contract.

Please use the Vendor Complaint Review Form (PDF), or a similar format that provides all of the information requested in the form.  This will assist the ministry in giving your complaint the attention it deserves, in a timely manner. It may be submitted by FAX, e-mail or mail, as above, or as indicated in the procurement notice.

The ministry will review your complaint in accordance with the government-wide procedures derived from the Ministry of Finance's Procurement Governance Office.  Specifically, the ministry is committed to the following timelines:

Acknowledge receipt of complaint:  no more than 3 to 5 days.
Complaint investigated and written response provided:  30 business days from receipt of complaint.  When unable to respond within 30 business days, the ministry contact will advise you of the reason for the delay and when you may expect a response.

Step 3 - Formal Complaint Escalation:

Failing resolution at the second step, your next contact would be the ministry's Assistant Deputy Minister, Resource Management Division, who is responsible for overseeing procurement policy and practices for the ministry.  Mail, FAX or e-mail the ADM as follows:

ADM, Resource Management Division
Ministry of Education and Child Care
PO BOX 9151
VICTORIA BC  V8W 9H1

FAX: (250) 953-4985
E-mail: Education.ResourceManagementDivision@gov.bc.ca

Please note, the ADM, Resource Management Division, will consider a complaint only if you have made attempts to resolve it at the ministry local office level.

Step 4 - Final Escalation:

As a final step, your complaint may be directed by FAX or e-mail to the Ministry of Finance's Procurement Governance Office (PGO), who is responsible for managing the VCRP process on behalf of government:

Procurement Governance Office
Ministry of Finance, Office of the Comptroller General
PO BOX 9413
VICTORIA BC  V8W 9V1

FAX: (250) 356-6164
E-mail: procurementgovernance@gov.bc.ca

The PGO will, only in exceptional circumstances, consider a complaint that has not been submitted to the ministry.

Reference:  For detailed VCRP information and benefits of this process, please see the Procurement Governance Office's VCRP website or call the ministry Contract Services Advisor named above for a hard copy.