Question Period Note: Procurement modernization

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is working to modernize and simplify procurement.

• The Government is modernizing procurement practices in order to streamline contracting processes and to make procurement processes easier, faster, and more accessible for suppliers particularly those from underrepresented groups, to do business with the Government
  • We are leveraging procurement to increase supplier diversity and to help address important socio-economic and environmental issues
  • Budget 2021 proposed $87.4 million over 5 years, and $18.6 million ongoing, to modernize federal procurement and to create opportunities for specific communities such as Indigenous Peoples, women, LGBTQ2+ Canadians, racialized Canadians and young people

More specifically, procurement modernization includes some of the following initiatives:

• The Contract Modernization initiative aims to streamline contracting policies and directives by modernizing the structure of government contracts and by simplifying the contracting process
• The Vendor Performance Management Policy will establish a standardized approach for assessing vendor performance and informing future bid evaluations. This policy will strengthen Canada’s relationship with its suppliers, which will result in an enhanced stewardship of resources for Canadians
• The Electronic Procurement Solution provides easy, web-based access to procurement services that, once fully deployed, will make procurement simpler, faster and easier for suppliers to find and bid on opportunities
• It will also and improve the management of procurement spending and will increase efficiency and allow access to better procurement data

Procurement Modernization aims to achieve a world-class accessible procurement system that drives value for money while delivering better results for Canadians. Procurement Modernization is an ongoing priority that seeks to transform procurement practices so that they are simpler, less administratively burdensome, deploy modern comptrollership, encourage greater competition and include practices that support government priorities.

Additionally, procurement modernization represents a significant change, such as adapting to modern, enabling technology while also incorporating new ways of working. This represents a shift for the professional procurement workforce in the capacity, skills and knowledge required to deliver procurement services. Resources and training will be required to support the procurement workforce in adapting to new processes and tools.

A key step towards using technology more effectively happened in March 2020 when we had the soft launch of Canada Buys, our new electronic procurement system (announced in Budget 2018, at a cost of $196.8 million over 5 years).

These efforts also builds on the 2018 establishment of the Accessible Procurement Resource Centre (APRC) to support government buyers in integrating accessibility criteria into their procurement requirements for goods and services. Work includes examining how we can ensure that procurement is accessible to all so that suppliers with disabilities can become part of the government’s supply chain, and to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to work as government suppliers.

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