Contracting Policy Notices (CPNs)

Contracting Policy Notices (CPNs) are official communications issued by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. They provide updates, interpretation and guidance on federal procurement. The Government of Canada maintains an index of Contracting Policy Notices that lists each notice.

CPNs support departments and agencies in complying with regulations, Treasury Board policy instruments and trade agreements. They are a Government of Canada procurement-policy tool. They are written for federal buyers, not for suppliers, but they shape the rules under which suppliers are asked to bid.

Who Issues and Receives Contracting Policy Notices

The Office of the Comptroller General at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat issues CPNs. They are addressed primarily to functional heads and to procurement, administration and finance officials in federal departments and agencies. For example, CPN 2023-5 was directed to senior designated officials for procurement and to functional heads in departments.

Subjects Covered by CPNs

CPNs communicate changes and clarifications across the federal procurement framework. The subjects include:

• Trade agreements and the thresholds that apply to them
• Contracting authorities
• The Directive on the Management of Procurement
• The Government Contracts Regulations
• Non-competitive contracting

Examples of Published CPNs

Four notices show the range of what a CPN can do.

• CPN 2025-8 sets federal free-trade-agreement procurement thresholds for January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027. The thresholds are published through the Government Electronic Tendering Service on CanadaBuys. See CPN 2025-8.
• CPN 2021-3 announced the new Directive on the Management of Procurement to federal procurement, administration and finance officials. See CPN 2021-3.
• CPN 2023-5 addressed amendments to the Government Contracts Regulations.
• CPN 2007-4 concerns non-competitive contracting and the approved exceptions that support sole-sourcing of federal contracts. See CPN 2007-4.

What CPNs Mean for a Supplier Bidding on Canadian Public Contracts

A CPN is guidance or instruction to federal organizations. It is not a supplier form or a contract clause, and suppliers do not respond to it directly. Suppliers are affected when a CPN changes a procurement's applicable trade-agreement threshold, eligibility rule, contracting authority, competition method or contractual policy requirement. The supplier must then comply with the requirements stated in the relevant solicitation or contract.

Bid teams can use the CPN index to understand why a federal buyer is running a procurement a certain way. Checking it when a threshold or policy changes helps explain whether a requirement will be competed, how it will be competed, and which trade agreements apply.