July 2016 – Important changes to Temporary Help Services

Important changes to the Temporary Help Services (THS) Standing Offer (SO) and Supply Arrangement (SA) for the National Capital Region (NCR) took effect on July 8, 2016.

The end date of the THS SO and SA has been extended to October 31, 2017 to provide service continuity and sufficient time to develop and implement a new THS Procurement Strategy.

In addition, the following changes have been made:

• On an exceptional basis only, call-ups and contracts can now be amended to extend the duration of an assignment period up to a maximum of 24 consecutive weeks beyond the limit of 48 consecutive weeks, without PWGSC prior approval, on the condition that the following conditions are met:
  • The duration of the assignment period, including any amendments that impact the assignment period, must be more than 40 consecutive weeks;
  • The amendment to extend the duration of the assignment period must be issued after the first 40 consecutive weeks of the assignment period; and
  • The Identified User must notify the THS Authority of the issued amendment by e-mail within 2 business days of issuing the amendment.
  Although the above change took effect on July 8, 2016, it is also applicable to THS call-ups issued and THS contracts awarded before July 8, 2016.
• The THS SO has been modified such that the Directed Selection Methodology for call-ups valued at or below $25,000 is applicable to all five classification streams (not just Streams 1 & 2), and the percentile methodology has been removed.
• The Model Request for Availability (RFA) form and the Model Request for Services (RFS) form and Contract template have been modified to add security instructions for DND Client users as well as a modification to the requirement for security clearances to permit duplications.
• Other administrative changes have been made such as updates to Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions (SACC) references, contact information for SO/SA Authority, updates to Annexes G and H, etc.

The current Standing Offer and Supply Arrangement published on the THS website have been updated to incorporate the new terms and end date. Note that federal government users of THS in the NCR are reminded to obtain THS forms and templates directly from the THS website to ensure that the latest versions are used.