Conditions of Use

Conditions of Use are the rules that govern how a person or organization may access and use a website, a service, a procurement tool or another resource. They set out what a user may do, what a user must not do, and what the user is responsible for once access is granted.

In Canadian government procurement, the term most clearly describes the participation rules attached to a shared buying program. Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) uses it for the Canadian Collaborative Procurement Initiative (CCPI), where it defines how eligible organizations may use PSPC procurement instruments. These conditions are different from a contract clause that governs delivery or performance.

Conditions of use under the Canadian Collaborative Procurement Initiative

The CCPI is administered by PSPC and gives eligible governments and other organizations access to existing procurement tools. PSPC publishes a page titled Eligibility and conditions of use that sets out the rules for participants. The program itself is described on the PSPC collaborative procurement page.

Participants who want to purchase goods and services through CCPI tools must first enter into an agreement directly with their province or territory or with PSPC. Access to the tools depends on that agreement.

What the CCPI conditions require of participating buyers

PSPC states that the following conditions apply when a participant uses its procurement tools:

• PSPC manages the terms and conditions of the procurement-instrument agreements.
• Buyers are responsible for resolving disputes with sellers, although PSPC may help clarify the terms.
• Prices, terms and conditions already agreed in the procurement instruments cannot be modified or negotiated.
• Buyers may purchase only goods within the commodity groups covered by the relevant procurement instruments. Goods outside those groups must be purchased using other tools.

These are obligations placed on the buyer. They keep the purchase within the scope of what PSPC has already competed and agreed, and they leave no room for a participant to rewrite the commercial terms.

Related NATO terms: terms of use and general terms and conditions

NATO does not use the exact phrase as a headline term, but it uses closely related expressions, including Terms of Use, conditions governing access, and general terms and conditions. The NATO Allied Command Transformation terms of use allow users to access and download materials for non-commercial use unless otherwise identified. They prohibit reselling, redistributing or creating derivative works from NATO materials unless the applicable terms are observed. NATO also requires republished website content to be clearly credited to NATO or the relevant NATO command, as set out in its guidance on the use of NATO content and brand.

On the contracting side, the NATO procurement manual states that standard general terms and conditions include terms relevant to all contract actions. It treats individual terms separately and gives price, delivery, payment, inspection and warranty as examples of the matters they address. The same split applies in Canada: access rules sit in one place, and the commercial terms of the contract sit in another.

What conditions of use mean for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

For a supplier, conditions of use under the CCPI are mainly obligations on the participating buyer. Your commercial rights and obligations come from the applicable procurement instrument and any resulting contract. Do not assume that the conditions of use alone state the performance requirements.

Read the specific instrument and contract before you bid or accept an order. Check which commodity groups the instrument covers, since buyers may purchase only within those groups. Expect the agreed prices, terms and conditions to be applied as written, because participating buyers cannot negotiate them. If a dispute arises, the buyer is responsible for resolving it with you, and PSPC may help clarify the terms.