Question Period Note: Increasing Indigenous involvement in procurement

Public Services and Procurement Canada, in partnership with Indigenous Services Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, are actively working to increase the participation of Indigenous businesses in federal procurement.

Note:

All questions regarding the Indigenous Business Directory, verification of Indigeneity and alleged cases of Indigenous misrepresentation should be directed to Indigenous Services Canada.

• Public Services and Procurement Canada is committed to economic reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and is working with Indigenous Services Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to increase Indigenous participation in federal procurement to meet the minimum target of 5% government-wide
  • We are taking concrete action to increase Indigenous participation in procurement including:
  • considering Indigenous participation in all procurements;
  • including Indigenous Participation Plans in contracts to provide subcontracting opportunities and other economic benefits; and
  • providing dedicated procurement opportunities to Indigenous businesses

If pressed on alleged cases of Indigenous misrepresentation in Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business contracts:

• Public Services and Procurement Canada is aware of Indigenous Peoples’ growing concerns about instances of alleged Indigenous misrepresentation, and supports Indigenous Services Canada’s work to address these issues

• Should Indigenous Services Canada deem a business to be non-compliant with the requirements of the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, the Government of Canada can take a number of actions such as contract termination, disqualification, suspension or debarment

• The department takes allegations of wrongdoing and misrepresentation seriously. If Indigenous Services Canada or the requisitioning department suspects that the business has committed fraud, they will report it to law enforcement.

If pressed on the Transformative Indigenous Procurement Strategy:

• In 2021, Indigenous Services Canada, with support from Public Services and Procurement Canada, established a five-year process to engage Indigenous partners and co-develop a Transformative Indigenous Procurement Strategy that will improve existing procurement policies, safeguards, and processes for Indigenous businesses
• A key piece of this collaborative work is determining a path forward to transferring the administration of the Indigenous Business Directory to Indigenous partners

On August 6, 2021, the Government of Canada announced a mandatory requirement for federal departments and agencies to ensure that a minimum of 5% of the total value of contracts are held by Indigenous businesses by 2024-2025. The announcement included Canada’s commitment to continue meaningful engagement to co-develop a longer-term transformative approach to Indigenous procurement and to increase the capacity of Indigenous-owned businesses to compete and receive more federal procurement contracts.

PSPC did not achieve its 5% target commitment in the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year; however, concrete actions are being taken to help increase Indigenous business participation in federal procurement, including developing Indigenous Participation Plans to boost subcontracting with Indigenous businesses and provide employment and training opportunities for Indigenous Peoples; applying Indigenous-by-default measures to consider Indigenous participation in all procurements; using limited bidding among prequalified Indigenous offerors; updating supply methods to include Indigenous businesses; structuring and unbundling projects to enable competitive Indigenous bids; and incorporating weighted Indigenous criteria in bid evaluations. PSPC also continued to increase awareness of federal procurement opportunities through its outreach and engagement activities.

• As of October 17 2025, there are approximately 2700 businesses on the Indigenous Business Directory, led by Indigenous Services Canada
  • All departments have a minimum target to award 5% of the total value of procurements to Indigenous businesses
  • In 2023-2024, Public Services and Procurement Canada awarded 3.4% ($143 million) of the total value of its procurements to Indigenous businesses
  • Starting in 2024-2025, Public Services and Procurement Canada’s methodology to calculate the 5% target will include the value of subcontracts awarded to Indigenous companies by non-Indigenous suppliers