Bloomberg Philanthropies is one of the most prominent entities working to support cities around the world by helping them address challenges in innovative and unconventional ways. Toronto was among the cities that hired Bloomberg Philanthropies to test and adopt a new procurement model in order to generate innovative solutions in this field. To this end, Toronto has established a new division called the Civic Innovation Office. While the Office searched for new and innovative tools to organize the flow of data of 311 Toronto, considered a point of contact for the citizens of Toronto, a challenge-based procurement methodology was established and dubbed "invitation to partner." The Civic Innovation Office turned to the technology and innovation community to develop an innovative solution that regulates purchases and enhances the effectiveness of 311 Toronto by using the design-thinking approach.
Invitation to partner was launched in 2017 with annual funding of up to USD 500,000 for three years. The methodology, launched in partnership with Purchasing and Materials Management, aims at boosting creativity and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs, innovators, and others to collaborate with municipality staff and residents in the field of Solution Development. This methodology is a way to engage Toronto's technology and innovation community to find solutions to the city's challenges, knowing that the ownership of any prototype implemented after consulting the city municipality belongs to the inventor. If the solution is financially feasible and sufficient funds are available to purchase it, the municipality creates a separate purchase contract for the final product.
This methodology requires inviting participating entities to co-create solutions inspired by resident experience and rapid prototyping. The procurement mechanism stipulated in this methodology may be similar to the traditional request for proposal, but it is unique in several aspects, notably by stating the challenge that the city wishes to address rather than defining the scope of work or requirements. Its usage is also limited to cases in which an appropriate and effective solution does not exist. On another note, the procurement mechanism is non-binding and flexible for both parties. The final solution is owned by the supplier and the city can choose to purchase it in a separate agreement to be negotiated. This methodology is based on a specific evaluation mechanism for vendor selection to come up with a solution to address the identified challenge. Finally, the procurement mechanism can be replicated and improved with continuous feedback.
The Civic Innovation Office recommends implementing the “invitation to partner” methodology in certain areas, such as smaller-scale projects with a budget under CAD 50,000, projects with clearly defined problems yet unknown solutions, and divisions that can allocate the resources to implement the "invitation to partner" document, as well as the implementation of the evaluation and design processes in an adequate manner.
The Working Group (TWG) was among the first local entities to pass the selection process and suggested a well-researched solution to address the 311 Toronto challenge. Accordingly, this entity met with the Civic Innovation Office to identify the goals and develop and implement a research and testing plan with the participation of residents and municipality staff. The entity also designed a digital prototype of a knowledge-based system to achieve service standards and satisfaction with the internal operations of 311 Toronto. Success measures remain unclear for reducing costs and the required time to complete transactions related to the “invitation to partner," as well as the suggested solution. However, The Working Group and municipality staff are expecting positive results.
On January 1, 2020, Toronto transitioned its Civic Innovation Office team to the newly-formed Customer Experience Transformation and Innovation (CXi) program, which was established in the fall of 2019 to unify and focus on improving the municipality's customer service initiatives.
