As part of Ontario’s Digital First for Health strategy, the Ministry of Health launched Health811 — a digital navigation and telehealth platform serving as the province’s “Digital Front Door” for healthcare access. The initiative enables more than 14 million Ontarians to receive trusted health information, advice, and triage through a unified digital experience.

GEF served as the province’s Strategic Procurement Advisor & Contract Negotiations Specialist, leading one of the most complex public-sector procurements in Ontario’s healthcare history. Our team designed and executed a tailored procurement strategy — from early market engagement to a multi-stage procurement process including competitive dialogue to a multi-staged, gated evaluation process all through to successful contract negotiations — balancing innovation, project timelines, and compliance under the OPS procurement directives.

Outcome: Despite an incumbent vendor with an established telehealth solution in the province for over 20 years, a highly competitive procurement was conducted (multiple viable, desirable bidders shortlisted) resulting in a negotiated agreement within 35 days with the winning international consortium (not the incumbent). The contract was awarded more than 6 months in advance of the legacy contract expiring thus allowing the new consortium time to transition the Government to the new solution.

Innovative Procurement Methods Utilized: Innovative Procurement Strategy, Early Market Engagement (EME), Market Sounding, Multi-stage Procurement, Request for Supplier Qualifications (RFSQ), Invitational RFP, Competitive Dialogue, CCMs (Commercially Confidential Meetings), Advanced Evaluation Methods included enhanced consensus, world-class negotiation strategies.

‍

A provincial energy regulator required a managed service provider (MSP) to host and operate the province’s electricity bill relief program for low-income households — a core policy initiative improving affordability for thousands of residents.

Faced with tight timelines and a highly complex mix of business, IT, and data-security requirements, the energy regulator engaged GEF as Strategic Procurement Advisor to lead the procurement of a new MSP, from planning to contract award.

GEF applied its agileprocurement™ methodology to compress the full procurement lifecycle — from requirements development and RFB design to evaluation and negotiations — while maintaining full compliance with public-sector procurement legislation.

Through disciplined governance and cross-stakeholder alignment, the RFP was released on schedule, a contract was awarded within weeks, and the solution achieved 100% compliance and audit readiness.

Outcome: A transparent, defensible, and accelerated procurement that enabled the regulator to deliver essential bill-relief services faster, securely, and with measurable public impact under a modernization technology solution.

‍

GEF was retained to recover the procurement phase of a very large healthcare solution and services procurement. The Public Sector client was seeking to procure an innovative and flexible best-of-breed hosted and managed Drug Adjudication and Formulary Management solution in order to achieve key strategic goals. Their goals included implementing a new customer centric business model that would achieve adjudication excellence, that would support their strategy of "digital first", and that enabled sound financial stewardship.

‍Outcome: The Client realized their approach to the project was not aligned to their strategic goals, and they selected GEF to rapidly implement a new approach and methodology to produce a high-quality procurement that achieved the desired strategic outcomes within weeks. Notably, a previous advisor had failed “to get it done” over the course of years! Simply put, there is no higher level of assured outcomes than hiring GEF for complex modernizations / transformations that involve both complex business services and I&IT solution procurements.

‍

As Expert Industry Advisor, GEF was retained to provide expert industry procurement advice and oversight in order to develop an RFP (including requirements development, business architecture, solution architecture) to select an optimal regulatory assurance solution that met this Alcohol / Cannabis / Racing & Gaming provincial agency’s business needs and requirements – this also included the management of the various phases of the procurement process, from evaluation up-to contract award.  

Outcome: An executive from the client organization stated: “GEF introduced an approach that ensured we made the right decision in the COTS procurement. Breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise was extremely beneficial developing the RFP and executing the procurement process. A very comprehensive procurement approach and deliverables. Vendors had even complimented us on the quality and thoroughness of the products and process. They ensured a well planned and executed ‘Requirements Finalization’. " Another client leader stated: "They delivered more than we expected, are great to work with and helped negotiate the best solution to address our needs within our budget."

‍

This Provincial transit agency, the largest in Canada, responsible for the provincial fare payment system, had embarked on an ambitious modernization plan to modernize their fare collection service.  The Provincial transit agency had a legacy contract with a single vendor that essentially owned, operated, and managed the entire fare collection system on the client’s behalf. In support of client’s strategic objectives, they desired to move to a multi-vendor ecosystem supported by best-of-breed solutions and vendors.  In order to support the transformation of the fare collection solution, the client retained GEF in late 2021 to lead the procurements that encompassed the key building blocks (“lots”) of the entire fare collection system namely, the new fare collection system (“AFCS”), system integration (“SI”) services and Service Integration And Management services (“SIAM”).  

The first project in the program was AFCS and GEF brought its project and program management capabilities to bear in order to deliver for the client a Request for Supplier Qualification (RFSQ) posted in Dec 2021 (work started in late October) and the follow-on RFP posted during April 2022 which represented an innovative procurement approach utilizing a multi-stage procurement process, competitive dialogue (CCMs) and the novel, advanced innovative procurement method “requirements finalization”.  

Previous to GEF’s involvement, progress on the AFCS RFSQ had had difficulty gaining transaction in addition to the other program projects.   In late October of 2021, GEF assumed both the program management and procurement responsibility, and within 6 weeks had developed both the ACFS and SIS RFSQ’s which were then posted to the market.  

Although GEF could not have done this without its procurement expertise, this case study most acutely demonstrates GEF’s program management capability in being able to turn around an existing procurement program and rapidly deliver the first program deliverables (“the RFSQ’s”) whilst defining the program scope, goals, and deliverables; developing full scale project plans and project timelines; assembling and coordinating project staff; and executing the program (and its projects) whilst ensuring quality. The RFSQ’s were but the first leg of that program and GEF subsequently went on to manage the remainder of the program (1+ year) until late 2023.  

Outcome: The program was delivered successfully and the procurement phase of the program concluded in late 2024 whereby the CEO of the provincial transit agency invited GEF as its key partner in the client’s success to celebrate with the client team at their internal celebration.  There is no greater endorsement of GEF’s expertise than that.

‍

A testimonial from our client, First Nations & Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada (Government of Canada):

‍

“GEF was tasked to do an analysis on the existing medical transportation systems used by our Program with the vision to move to a single national system. In order to substantiate our vision, GEF analysed and assessed Health Canada's existing medical transportation systems and provided a comprehensive recommendation to replace the current existing systems. Health Canada was very pleased with the details noted in the report produced by GEF, as it substantiated many assumptions Health Canada had determined, as the same result."

"As a next step, the Business Systems Re-Engineering (BPR) team from GEF gathered requirements from each regional office that had unique but isolated regional processes.  GEF handled this complex task by taking the time to become familiar with the Program beforehand, (through analysis) which the regional stakeholders greatly appreciated, as they felt understood when GEF consultant visited and documented all requirements. Once the requirements were gathered, GEF analysed each of the business processes and developed a national business process that the regions would follow when a national system would be in place taking into consideration each regional need.

"We were very impressed with GEF's recommendation and we are using their work as our basis as we are going through our Request for Proposal to procure a national system.  We would highly recommend GEF Consulting.”

‍

The Client's executive sponsor testimonial stated that:

‍

“GEF was engaged to lead the development of requirements for a new software product in the health care sector.  We had a conceptual view of the product but lacked the skills to pull together a detailed set of requirements.   GEF not only had the skills to develop the architecture, integration, and regulatory requirements for the product, they brought a wealth of knowledge about the healthcare field that was critical to getting the job done.   The lead quickly integrated with our team and was a pleasure to work with throughout the project.”

‍

A provincial transit agency had a complex web of contracts for the management and maintenance of all their facilities (substantially consisting of rail and bus stations and terminals) in Canada’s largest province.  The facility management services ranged from snow clearing services, reality facilities maintenance, electro-mechanical services, janitorial services and other specialist services (e.g elevator service, armoured guard, bio-collection etc.)

GEF was engaged to assist this provincial transit agency in validating whether a previously recommended strategy related to consolidation of these contracts was viable and desirable.  GEF undertook a Contract Rationalization and Spend Analysis exercise in order to recommend an appropriate strategy for the transit agency.  GEF reviewed over 100 contracts divided amongst 60 vendors for all regions within the province presenting an annual spend of +$20MM.  

Outcome: GEF’s recommendation directed the transit agency to take a different approach than previously suggested which would result in a practical, real-world implementable provincial strategy that would result in tens of millions in savings, optimized vendor management for the client and increased service levels.

‍

GEF was retained by the third largest transit agency in North America to provide strategic public sector procurement advice and commercial advisory expertise on all procurements related to the transit agency’s future fleet strategy (new trains, buses and street cars in addition to the supporting engineering and project management services).

One of the first “vehicle” procurements in that program was for new hybrid buses. As part of that procurement work, the transit agency wanted to introduce Social Procurement requirements (i.e. Procurement Equity and Green Procurement) into the RFP.  Given GEF’s real-world, applied and practical experience with Social Procurement and furthermore, what GEF feels has been the failing to-date from an implementation perspective of Social Procurement policies into tender documents, namely, that Social Procurement requirements never have any “teeth”, with the transit agency’s blessing, support and collaboration, GEF embarked on a first of its kind implementation of social procurement requirements in a Canadian tender document whereby failure to meet those requirements would have real-world enforceable implications for selected proponents.

For greater clarity, GEF advised the transit agency not only on the appropriate use of social procurement requirements but furthermore, tied those requirements to Liquidated Damages in the contract. Given that many of the viable desirable proponents for hybrid buses are international in nature, the implications of the social procurement requirements were profound given that although the transit agency itself was progressive, that could not necessarily be assumed for international proponents when it came to their own internal policies related to diversity, equity, sustainability and climate change.  

Outcome: RFP issued and awarded with the first of its kind implementation of social procurement requirements in a Canadian tender document whereby failure to meet those requirements would have real-world enforceable implications for selected proponents.  In the transit agency’s April 2021 Board Report they stated publicly, “...staff engaged GEF Consulting, a procurement consultancy firm, to conduct a review of recent industry procurements and identify best practices, which improved management of technical and contractual risk while adding both flexibility and clarity to a greatly simplified tendering process.”

‍

The below highlights some examples which represent the broad spectrum of market research GEF has delivered for its trusted clients.