Additional Construction Services

Additional Construction Services is a contract-award procedure used in Canadian federal procurement. It covers construction services that were not included in the original contract but are needed to complete the original work. The procedure applies generally where separating the extra work from the original contract would create technical or economic difficulty, or significant inconvenience.

The label appears as the procurement strategy on CanadaBuys award notices. It also appears in federal contract-history data as a limited-tendering reason, a category that was discontinued effective January 1, 2022. For a supplier, the term signals that an award is tied to extra work on an existing construction requirement, not to a fresh competitive call for a new project.

Conditions for awarding additional construction work

Federal review material describes additional construction services as work that was not part of the initial contract but falls within the objectives of the original tender documentation. The same material sets out the conditions that apply:

• The additional work must have become necessary through unforeseeable circumstances.
• The work must fall within the objectives of the original tender documentation.
• Separating the work from the original contract would be technically or economically difficult, or significantly inconvenient.
• The work is awarded to the existing contractor.

The material also caps the total value of contracts for additional construction services at 50% of the main contract amount. The full wording is in the federal procurement review chapter.

How the term appears on CanadaBuys award notices

CanadaBuys award notices show Additional Construction Services in the field for the Contract Award Procedure (Procurement Strategy). Two notices show the range of work it has covered:

• A Public Works and Government Services Canada award titled Construction of Other Buildings, contract number ED001-161679/001/PWC and solicitation number ED001-161679/A. See the award notice.
• An award titled Ventilating Services Contractors, which also lists Additional Construction Services as its procurement strategy. See the award notice.

These two records show that the term is used for both general building construction and specialized building services work.

Discontinued as a limited-tendering reason in 2022

Government of Canada contract-history data lists Additional Construction Services as a reason for limited tendering, meaning a non-competitive award. The data states that this reason was discontinued as of January 1, 2022. Suppliers reviewing older contract records, such as those in the federal contract history search, will therefore find the term used as a category. Records dated after that change should be read with the discontinuation in mind.

The term is not a standing offer, a supply arrangement or a mandatory clause. It describes how an award was made, not a type of contract vehicle.

What Additional Construction Services means for a supplier

An award under this procedure is connected to additional work on an existing construction requirement or contract. That makes the original contractor the usual recipient. A supplier that is not the incumbent will rarely see this work offered for open bidding.

Suppliers can use the term in three practical ways:

• Review past award notices on CanadaBuys to see which contractors received follow-on work, and on which kinds of projects.
• When bidding on a construction contract, read the tender documentation closely, because the original scope and objectives define what later additional work can fall within.
• Check any amendment, solicitation or award notice for its own requirements, since the label itself creates no separate registration, certification or bid submission requirement.