Archive notices

Recently, Public Services and Procurement Canada launched CanadaBuys, a new suite of procurement services to help suppliers do business with the Government of Canada. The new services are designed to be easier and quicker to use than ever.

To prepare for the transition to CanadaBuys, suppliers are encouraged to register their business through System Application and Product (SAP) Ariba, the new electronic procurement solution. Please contact the CanadaBuys service desk should there be any trouble getting started on SAP Ariba.

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) which replaces the obligations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), will enter into force on July 1, 2020. NAFTA will continue to apply to procurements commenced prior to CUSMA’s effective date of July 1, 2020, until those procurements are complete. With respect to the methods of supply, NAFTA will be replaced by the Canada Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA).

LEAN initiative—Translation and language preferences in professional services contracting

An enhancement to the CPSS ePortal is being developed that will allow client departments to identify the overall language preference for a particular solicitation based on the language preferences pre-identified by suppliers.

Reference to "National Zone" in the "Region/Metropolitan Area" section of the CPSS ePortal searchmodule and Data Collection Component has been replaced by "Remote/Virtual Access". The definition of "Remote/Virtual Access" remains the same as its predecessor "National Zone".

The Centralized Professional Services System—Data Collection Component (CPSS-DCC) has upgraded its functionality to provide bidders with access to a "Portable Document Format (PDF)" copy of their submitted bid responses. This functionality is intended as a means to facilitate the free flow of information by bidders. This new functionality does not replace the requirement to submit any of the requested online information through the DCC, or in hard copy to the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) Bid Receiving Unit as stipulated in the solicitation.

August 1, 2019

Effective August 1, 2019, the Temporary Help Services (THS) method of supply for the National Capital Region (NCR) will have migrated to the Centralized Professional Services System (CPSS). This allows for one point of access for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) professional services procurement tools. A link to client training information can be found in the ‘For Government’ section below.

Treasury Board has recently amended the Archived—Contracting Policy to increase some of the contracting delegations of the Policy for goods services and other procurement commodities. Below are some of the changes that will affect the methods of supply (both task and solution based) in the CPSS ePortal:

• Appendix C—Contracts Directive was revised as of April 11th, 2019 to increase the contracting authority of PSPC to $ 37,500,000.00 for Services, as well as increase most other government departments’ authority to $ 3,750,000.00
• Effective June 10th, 2019 changes to the Government Contracts Regulations to subsections 10.2 Exceptions, allow for directing contracts up to $ 40,000 for services

Please be reminded that the Contracting Officer awarding and signing any resulting call-up and/or contract must hold the appropriate Delegated Contracting Authority for such amount. As always, these amounts include all applicable taxes, travel/living expenses and amendments.

Input of quarterly usage reports in centralized professional services ePortal system

• An enhancement to the CPSS ePortal is being developed that will allow suppliers to enter call-up/contract information directly into the CPSS ePortal system
• An enhancement has been added to the CPSS to allow for the input of Quarterly Usage Reports (QUR) within CPSS. Suppliers will now input call-up/contract information, resulting from their Standing Offer(s) and/or Supply Arrangement(s) directly into the CPSS ePortal system