Government Operations committee  Specific to the office furniture, there are definitely a number of U.S.-headquartered companies that benefit from the various contracts over and above just the free-standing one we've discussed this morning. A high percentage of those U.S.-headquartered companies have significant

Government Operations committee  In the beginning, we felt there was positive outcome. The direction that was being considered, as it related to office furniture, did see a significant change from the initial concepts of “The Way Forward”, which initially targeted sole-source procurement within the office furnit

Government Operations committee  The most important one would be the free-standing national master standing offer that was just concluded. There were a number of things, and I think the results speak for themselves in terms of the number of manufacturers who were not able to complete the document to the point wh

Government Operations committee  Yes, the vast majority.

Government Operations committee  No, we don't have a dispute with the numbers. The aboriginal entities are only eligible for a standing offer contract if it's a complete mirror of the underlying manufacturer's contract. Fundamentally, five manufacturing entities have been awarded contracts. Then in order to pr

Government Operations committee  No, the standing offers initially must be awarded to the manufacturers of the goods, and only if a manufacturer's product qualifies can the aboriginal entity receive a standing offer, which must contain the same terms and conditions as the manufacturers'.

Government Operations committee  They've had the opportunity to work with them. Whether the individual companies have chosen to or not, I wouldn't know specifically. Certainly through the Office of Small and Medium Enterprise's participation in the GOFAC committee and BIFMA's communication to our industry, they

Government Operations committee  Our association specifically has not dealt with them, but many of the members have dealt with them, both in Quebec and in the industry as a whole.

Government Operations committee  It's much more often known as BIFMA, because that's a lot shorter. I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the industry. BIFMA's mission is to lead, advocate, inform, and develop standards for the North American office and institutional furniture industr