The Red Cross is looking to form partnerships and alliances with vendors who believe in their mandate and who would like to work with them to develop and realize its vision for the future - help the Red Cross build capacity at the community level and to respond to future disasters.

As part of its supply chain program, CATAAlliance acts as the primary conduit and facilitator of the IT procurement process for the Canadian Red Cross.

Priorities and Focus Technologies

In November 2006, the Information Services (IS) team at the Canadian Red Cross kicked off a 360° strategic planning review. The aim of this planning exercise was to review The Society's business, programs, priorities and needs, in the short, medium and long term and to look for cost effective and innovative ways to lead and support The Society through to 2010.

In terms of looking at technologies and services from Canada enterprises, areas of interest and priority include:

* Consolidation, integration and/or provision of portals for key applications with a view to reducing redundancy and duplication (e.g., data/sound/video, eCommerce, e-Learning, Intranet, Portals, Content and Document Management, Call/Contact Centers)

* Enhancements of data center support with adoption of best practices to improve overall customer experience

* Hosting renewal, including equipment and WAN (in-house versus outsourcing)

Vendors should also note that CATAAlliance will provides Vendor Outreach Forums (VOF) and email alerts that review high level details regarding capital projects being released for by the Canadian Red Cross and facilitate business networking between the parties.

Canadian Red Cross is one of 185 National Societies that along with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) make up the world's largest humanitarian network - also known as the International Red Cross Movement.