Cornwall Ontario City Councilor Glen Grant had a very busy night. Championing the dog park and being one of the three councilors that spearheaded opting out of the Glen Stor Lodge Pharmacy contract.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lRi1WnsBDs
Councilor Hug I think hit the nail on the head on one major point. That residents had to pay more for medications
under this new contract than they had been paying before. As a matter of fact a lot of heat may fall on the head of Glen Stor Administrator Donna Derouchie. Listening last night most of the questions arising seem to stem from Ms. Derouchies actions and choices.
Hopefully the new RFP process will lead to more transparency, and a better contract for those that have to pay for the system; either the province or the patients. Councilor Hug “The Chamber hopes that the contract goes to a local firm……. It has concerns from citizens and costing a local firm business.” “It is a cost to the city.”
“This should never have happened” stated Councilor Andre Rivette. Councilor Mark MacDonald asked if residents could contract for their own medication, but the answer to that was no.
Councilor Elaine Macdonald liked the new process as she stated that with Shoppers Drugmart opening a larger presence in the area more local options should be considered.
Councilor Bernadette Clement stated that “We have a duty to be transparent.”
“This is a unique situation.” Paul Fitzpatrick shared. 
Councilor Grant also stated “I agree with the motion to move to a RFP …we need to make sure it’s fair.” “I never heard of any other pharmacies being approached.” He also asked who will evaluate the RFP’s when the do come in?
He wanted to know if there would be points awarded in the process for being able to deliver services locally.
Councilor Dennis Carr asked if the meeting process would be open. Ms Derouchie said that until now meetings had not had non committee members sitting in.
Mayor Kilger ended the discussion with his own comments. Ever the statesman he said that he supported the motion to RFP process “…and that while everyone followed the rules; the sensitivity of the issue; the need to go beyond the procurement process, and for greater transparency warranted the move…”
What do you think Cornwall Ontario? Are you happy with the results of a new RFP process? Should Medical Arts get the contract back? Post your comments below.
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RFPs (Request For Proposal) must clearly spell out the criteria for selection and how many points are given for each criteria.. Is it price? Is it speed of delivery? Is it local content? Is it reliability? Is it the brands offered? There could be many other criteria. This is not easy to do. Typically, you would like to recieve at least three RFPs. Sometimes, you may get only one and you must decide ahead of time what you will do under these circumstances. The RFP process does not always guarantee a lower price. Preparing a RFP is costly for the business doing the proposing and so they often build this into the proposal. The RFP process may seem to be the better way, but it is not always so. It does however, increase transparency.
I would hope that the process would be open to any interested parties and that the organization best suited to supply the service and products would be selected for the term of the contract.