After the SAAQclic crisis last year, the migration of the Electronic Tendering System (SEAO) to a new platform managed by Quebec is also causing difficulties, this time in the construction industry. Many contractors are struggling to use the new search tool to bid.
“There is never a good time to make such a transition, but in the middle of summer when construction sites are in full swing, it was not the best time,” says Caroline Amireault, director and lawyer for the Association québécoise des entrepreneurs en infrastructure (AQEI).
Operated for years by CGI, the Electronic Tendering System is a web platform that lists all contracts over $25,000 awarded by all ministries, public agencies and municipalities. Each year, the projects posted there total hundreds of millions.
This site has migrated in recent weeks to the government’s digital platforms. The latter has for some time brought together several entities under its umbrella, as part of the megaproject of Government Authentication Service (SAG), whose primary goal is to secure citizen data and facilitate their access to the public.
The integration into the SAG was also at the origin of the fiasco surrounding the IT crisis at the Société de l’assurance automobile (SAAQ), which caused countless queues due to technical difficulties associated with the SAAQclic system.
In the case of the SEAO, the migration came in the wake of a recommendation from the Auditor General (AG) dating back to 2016 and aimed at “reducing the risk associated with dependence” on a private company. More generally, the migration was “aimed at improving the performance of the system,” a spokesperson for the Treasury Board Secretariat, Cynthia Boissonneault, stated by email.
A difficult experience
However, as with SAAQclic, not everything went as planned. Several contractors have told us in recent days that they are having difficulty consulting current call for tender documents or submitting a bid. The search tool is less effective for finding mandates, according to project providers.
Several of them also experienced issues with logging into the new system, which appeared to “discard or remove” many identifiers, with the site now requiring dual identification to strengthen data security.
Various problems have also been observed with invoicing and order history. “We have a lot of trouble with the platform’s features, which I find much less intuitive. Ultimately, we fear that the transition will result in several calls for tenders being delayed. All of this should have been tested well before deployment,” confides one of these entrepreneurs, who testifies on condition of anonymity for fear of professional consequences.
Another deplores in particular not having received “any notice of this important migration of a system which had nevertheless worked very well for more than 30 years, to which everyone was well accustomed”.
“In our industry, every day counts, so the impacts of poorly coordinated change can be enormous,” persists another source, adding in passing: “There are people in the industry who must be very stressed right now.”
Lack of technical support
At the Quebec Association of Infrastructure Contractors, Caroline Amireault deplores the lack of information provided to the industry before the transition, since the SEAO is used daily by hundreds of contractors. “We would have liked to have an explanatory guide, training, something. There is a complexity in terms of research and themes, but the technical support just doesn’t work,” she says.
Talking to an agent seems difficult when calling the hotline set up to support entrepreneurs. Mme Amireault said he requested technical training from the Treasury Board. This should be held on July 9, with several companies.
The Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs says it is “aware that some users have encountered difficulties”, especially with regard to the step of “pairing their old SEAO account with the new one”.
Quebec claims that a “change management strategy”, including training and external communications, had been deployed as early as December 2023. A document providing an overview of the issues, with key solutions, was also given to entrepreneurs.
“In the old SEAO, users used an identifier with a password to authenticate themselves. Whereas in the new SEAO, authentication is done by an email address and a password,” says a spokesperson, Émile Boudreau. Thus, if a user creates an account in the new system without using the same address that he used when creating his account in the old one, he will be blocked.
Mr. Boudreau believes that customer service “is equipped to support suppliers in their transition.” “The majority of calls received so far concern questions related to suppliers’ adaptation to the new system,” he maintains. His group assures that it “is closely monitoring the situation and is continuously analyzing the reasons for calls to customer service.”
“The system has not experienced any outages since it was put into service on June 10. […] When fixes are needed, they will be deployed diligently to improve the user experience. Currently, the issues are related to change management,” concludes the public relations officer.