Conditionally Limited

Conditionally limited is a procurement strategy under the Government of Canada's Canadian Content Policy. A solicitation or request for standing offers (RFSO) is conditionally limited when the buyer is uncertain whether two or more suppliers that could provide Canadian goods and/or services exist. The restriction to Canadian content is therefore not guaranteed at the outset. It depends on what suppliers submit.

Under this approach, each offeror submits a Canadian-content certification with its offer. If enough valid certified offers come in from unaffiliated offerors, the buyer evaluates only those offers. If not, the buyer can evaluate all responsive offers. The details are set out in CanadaBuys guidance on preparing solicitations and offers.

How a conditionally limited solicitation works

CanadaBuys guidance for buyers describes the conditional approach as a way to test the market. The buyer does not know whether the Canadian supply base is deep enough to support a competition limited to Canadian content. Instead of guessing, the buyer issues a solicitation that asks for certification and lets the responses decide the outcome.

The approach applies to competitive solicitations and to RFSOs. In both cases the buyer must include the applicable certification clauses in the solicitation documents.

The certification an offeror must submit

An offeror responding to a conditionally limited procurement must submit the required Canadian-content certification with its offer. The certification is what makes an offer eligible to be counted toward the Canadian-only evaluation group.

Earlier Public Works and Government Services Canada Supply Manual guidance identifies SACC Manual clauses K4002T, K4005T and K4006T as the certifications for competitive procurements that are conditionally limited to Canadian goods and/or services. That guidance is available in the PWGSC Supply Manual. Bidders should read the clauses actually printed in each solicitation, since those govern the bid.

The two-offer test at evaluation

The CanadaBuys evaluation guidance sets out the rule:

• If two or more offers from two or more unaffiliated offerors have valid Canadian-content certifications, evaluation is limited to those certified offers. Only they are eligible for award.
• If fewer than two qualifying certified offers are received, all offers may be evaluated and may be eligible for award, subject to responsiveness requirements.

The guidance tells the buyer to determine whether the required number of certified offers exists as the first step in evaluation. Validation of the certifications may happen later or at the same time.

Conditionally limited compared with solely limited

A conditionally limited procurement is distinct from one that is solely limited to Canadian goods or services. The solely limited approach is used when the buyer believes enough eligible Canadian suppliers exist. The conditional approach is used when the buyer is not sure.

The threshold has changed over time. Earlier PWGSC Supply Manual material described conditionally limited procurements as those where the contracting officer was uncertain whether three or more suppliers of Canadian goods and/or services existed. Current CanadaBuys guidance uses two or more valid offers from unaffiliated offerors.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

If you can offer Canadian goods or services, submit the required certification with your bid. An offer without a valid certification cannot count toward the two-offer test and is not eligible for award once the evaluation is limited to certified offers.

Offerors that are affiliated with each other count as one source for the test, so the certified offers must come from unaffiliated offerors. Suppliers that cannot certify Canadian content can still bid, but their offers are evaluated only if fewer than two qualifying certified offers are received. Check the certification clauses and the evaluation section of each solicitation before you decide how to bid.