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 improve the Government’s ability to respond to emerging risks and protect the integrity of 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 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 federal procurement and real property systems, which encompass 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 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 and the 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 been 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 for OSIC to determine appropriate periods of ineligibility, up to a maximum of 10 years, based on an assessment of aggravating and mitigating factors.

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 applies 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 March 26, 2026, the Office of Supplier Integrity and Compliance has provisionally suspended six suppliers, suspended four suppliers, and declared 13 suppliers to be ineligible