Question Period Note: Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance

The Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance supports the Government’s ability to identify suppliers of concern and take appropriate action to mitigate the risk they pose.

• The Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance is part of a broader framework of tools that improves the Government’s ability to respond to emerging risks, and protect the integrity of the federal procurement and real property systems
  • It administers the Government of Canada’s suspension and debarment program for procurement and real property transactions
  • Since its launch, the Office has taken action against various bad actors and continues to step up efforts to identify and respond to suppliers of concern

The Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance (OSIC), launched in May 2024, replaced the Government of Canada’s Integrity Regime that had been in place since 2015 as a government-wide, policy-based debarment system. It is designed to mitigate the risk of conducting business with suppliers of concern by excluding them from being awarded contracts, as opposed to being punitive which is the role of the criminal justice system.

OSIC plays a significant role in safeguarding the federal procurement and real property systems, which encompasses approximately $20 billion annually for contracts, real property agreements, the management of Crown-owned properties, and rental payments on lease contracts across Canada.

Under the updated Ineligibility and Suspension Policy (the Policy), changes have been introduced to enable OSIC to better mitigate risks posed by suppliers of concern. Triggers for suspension or debarment have been expanded to include a wider range of procurement integrity-related issues such as:

• offences under the Criminal Code, the Financial Administration Act
• Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, the Canada Elections Act
• civil judgments and similar offences that occur in other jurisdictions
• misconduct related to human trafficking, forced labour, environmental violations, and labour code
• wrongdoing in the absence of charges or convictions, including in cases where a supplier has debarred by another jurisdiction or an international organization and/or cases involving a founded breach of the Code of Conduct for Procurement

The updated Policy accords flexibility to determine appropriate periods of ineligibility, up to a maximum of 10 years, based on an assessment of aggravating and mitigating factors. This ensures OSIC’s responses are commensurate with the conduct and risk posed by the supplier.

OSIC actively monitors current events for allegations of supplier misconduct through research, information sharing, and data analytics. OSIC exercises due diligence and procedural fairness when assessing suppliers, and apply administrative safeguards to allow for independent decision making while taking action when the Policy is triggered.

Since launching on May 31, 2024, and as of October 20, 2025, the Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance has provisionally suspended five suppliers, suspended four suppliers, and declared 12 suppliers to be ineligible.