Allocation Unit (AU)

An allocation unit is a requisition-routing function inside Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), formerly Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). Federal client departments send their purchase requests to it. The unit gives each request a file number, enters it into the procurement system and passes it to the appropriate PSPC office or buying group.

The term comes from the PSPC Supply Manual and from CanadaBuys procurement-administration language. It describes an internal step that happens before a solicitation is published, so it is not a bid document, a certification or a contract clause. Current federal terminology links the function to the Central Allocations Unit (CAU), in French the unité centrale des attributions (UCA).

How an allocation unit handles a requisition

An earlier edition of the Supply Manual states that all requisitions and requisition amendments must be sent to an allocation unit. There, each one receives a file number, is entered into the Automated Buyer Environment (ABE) and is routed to the appropriate office. The Supply Manual edition published by PWGSC sets out this sequence.

• Numbering: the requisition is given a file number so it can be tracked.
• System entry: the request is recorded in the procurement system.
• Routing: the file goes to the appropriate PSPC office or buying group.

Amendments follow the same path as new requisitions. A change to an existing request goes back through the allocation unit rather than directly to a buyer.

Central Allocations Unit and current terminology

The CanadaBuys glossary uses the related term Central Allocations Unit. It describes the "central allocations unit (or allocation user)" as the party that creates the requisition in SAP Ariba and routes the work to the appropriate manager of the PSPC buying group. The CanadaBuys glossary also lists the French equivalent.

A PSPC internal audit describes the same unit in more operational terms. According to the PSPC audit of land, aerospace and marine equipment procurement, the Central Allocations Unit:

• provides a central point of access for all new requisition requests for goods or services;
• tracks new requisitions;
• conducts a preliminary assessment of mandatory requirements; and
• delegates each requisition to the appropriate PSPC sector.

The audit also states that client departments and PSPC sectors must use the Central Allocations Unit when initiating procurements.

Where allocation units are listed

CanadaBuys publishes Annex 2.3 of the Supply Manual, which lists PSPC allocation units and their contact points for submitting requisition forms. The list includes the National Capital Region Central Allocations Unit and regional allocation offices. It is available in the Supply Manual chapter 2 annexes. The contacts are intended for government requisitioners, not for bidders.

What an allocation unit means for a supplier

The obligation to use an allocation unit sits with government clients and PSPC procurement personnel. Suppliers do not submit anything to it as part of a bid. The term is most useful for understanding how a federal need becomes a PSPC file. A requirement is raised by a client department, numbered and routed by the allocation unit, and then handled by a PSPC buying group. That group is the one that eventually issues a solicitation on CanadaBuys.

Bid teams who see the term in procurement contacts or requisition-routing information can read it as an internal intake step. Questions about a published solicitation still go to the contracting authority named in the tender notice.