The Government of Canada
has appointed Bank of Montreal Financial Group and Hogg Robinson Group to
provide a travel, payment and expense management program. The contract is worth
between C$600 million and C$700 million (US$590 million and US$688 million) in
absolute spending per year, said Steve Pedersen, BMO's vice president of
corporate payment products for Canada and corporate cards for North America.
The contract, which will
start in March or April 2014 and run through April 2022, will include about
100,000 BMO-issued MasterCards provided to Canadian government employees.
The Beat last week reported
that the Canadian government's incumbent T&E service provider has been Accenture,
supported by subcontractors American Express Canada, Concur and Bell Canada.
The bidding process for
the new contract took more than three years and included multiple requests for proposals,
Pedersen said, adding that "it was a concerted effort to be as thorough as
it could be."
"It was a unique
[deal] as it was one bid that covered a multitude of services," he added.
"By its nature, it streamlined the number of companies who could bid,
although we do know that the original request was sent out to many financial
institutions and travel providers."
The bidding came down to
two groups: the incumbents and BMO/HRG. Pedersen said an important component of
winning the bid was BMO's partnership with MasterCard. "MasterCard
acceptance did address one of the pain points that the government had experienced
with previous programs," he explained.
HRG plans to offer its
own HRG Online booking system, while subsidiary Spendvision will provide
expense management.
BMO previously has worked
with the Government of Canada on other card programs, as well as with HRG and
MasterCard.