Vol. 5, #8, November 1, 2000 | BCTF News Archive

### COMMITTEE TO ADVISE ON MOVING THE DECK CHAIRS

An ad hoc advisory committee was created by the ministry to meet with the corporate team that is doing the business viability study. Most members of this committee were also involved in evaluating the proposals that were submitted by companies in response to the request for proposals.

The ad hoc advisory committee includes people from administrator organizations, parents, and students. There are three BCTF representatives: Dawn Douthwaite, Trish Main, and Larry Kuehn.

However, the framework for the development of the portal was set before the advisory committee was created, although the ministry did contract some focus groups last spring as the request for proposals was being developed.

The terms of the request for proposals predetermined many of the important issues. For example, providing the portal services through government funding was precluded by a decision to build the portal based on revenue-producing features. Contracting out to the private sector rather than developing it in the public sector was also predetermined by the ministry before any advice was sought through an advisory process.

The elements included in the request for proposals also ensured that only major established corporations would have any chance of meeting the conditions set out. No start-up companies had a chance. No public sector consortium could have met the criteria.