Complexity Level 3 Procurements

Complexity Level 3 procurements are Government of Canada acquisitions that include one or more of the following: an innovative or developmental requirement that uses new, or a combination of new and existing, technologies or processes; a requirement or procurement that is highly unpredictable because of substantial uncertainty; or an untested procurement strategy. A Level 3 procurement must not include criteria that belong to Complexity Level 4 or 5. The definition is set out in the CanadaBuys characteristics of procurement complexity levels.

The term is a Canadian federal procurement classification. It belongs to the five-level framework the federal Acquisitions Program uses to assess the complexity and risk of a procurement. The same characteristics appear in the Supply Manual, Chapter 2 annexes. Buyers use the level to decide on the approach, expertise, review and approval a procurement needs.

The three Level 3 characteristics

A procurement qualifies as Level 3 when it meets at least one of three characteristics.

• Innovative or developmental requirement: the work uses new technologies or processes, or a mix of new and existing ones, to reach an innovative solution. The requirement may be developmental.
• Highly unpredictable requirement or procurement: a high level of uncertainty makes the outcome hard to forecast.
• Untested procurement strategy: the buyer is using an approach that has not been tried before.

Both the Buyer's Guide and the Supply Manual list the same characteristics. The ceiling matters as well. If a procurement carries criteria that belong to Level 4 or 5, it is classified at the higher level instead.

Where Level 3 sits in the five-level framework

CanadaBuys identifies five procurement-complexity levels, and each one calls for a different approach and level of expertise. Level 3 sits in the middle of the scale. A federal departmental plan published by Public Services and Procurement Canada describes Level 3 as "Custom" procurement. It involves requirements that are new or highly unpredictable, an untested procurement strategy, and potentially clients and multiple stakeholders. The plan is available in the PSPC departmental publication.

Review and approval of Level 3 procurements

The level drives internal controls. For offer evaluation, a procurement risk assessment may determine that a formal peer review of results is required at Levels 2 and 3. At Levels 4 and 5 the review is mandatory. The CanadaBuys evaluation process page also confirms that the buyer must evaluate offers according to the procedures stated in the solicitation.

Approval depends on the level too. For PSPC procurements within departmental authority, Levels 1, 2 and 3 are approved in accordance with the procurement risk assessment and PSPC's non-competitive contract approval-authority limits, as described in the guidance on procurement processes initiated by a client. In the Advanced Contract Award Notice process, a Level 3 procurement is associated with approval by a Director General or Regional Director General. See the CanadaBuys ACAN guidance.

What Level 3 means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The sources do not create a universal supplier certification or a standalone Level 3 submission form. Your obligations are the ones written into the solicitation and the resulting contract. That means meeting every mandatory requirement, rated requirement, technical specification, security requirement, certification and submission instruction.

A Level 3 label does signal what the buyer expects to be difficult, so bid teams can prepare accordingly.

• Show evidence that your proposed solution can address an innovative, developmental, uncertain or untested requirement.
• Plan for greater technical, commercial and delivery uncertainty than in a routine purchase.
• Read the evaluation method closely, because offers are assessed strictly under the procedures stated in the solicitation.
• Expect that internal review steps, such as peer review of evaluation results, may add time to the buyer's process.

Use the Level 3 criteria to read the buyer's intent, then answer the solicitation as written.