Excluded Material

In Canadian federal procurement documents, Excluded Material means packaging tape for which environmentally preferable alternatives are not widely available. The definition sits inside the environmental packaging provisions of a solicitation, and it removes packaging tape from the scope of the environmentally preferable packaging specifications.

The exclusion is temporary in its wording. Packaging tape stays excluded until the market progresses and supporting studies become available. The wording appears in solicitation W0501-26R033 and is repeated in solicitation 25-58215, both published on CanadaBuys.

How the packaging tape exclusion is worded

The solicitations tie the term to a single material. Excluded Material is packaging tape, and the stated reason is that environmentally preferable alternatives are not widely available. The same documents say packaging tape is excluded from the environmentally preferable packaging specifications until the market progresses and studies become available.

The definition is a solicitation-specific term. It is written into the bid document itself rather than set out as a standing definition that applies across all federal purchasing. A bidder therefore reads the definition in the document it is responding to.

Where Excluded Material appears in CanadaBuys solicitations

The term shows up across several federal buyers and several document types, including requests for proposals, requests for bids and a request for standing offers. Examples published on CanadaBuys include:

• Department of National Defence requirements, such as W0501-26R033 and W6399-25-LU05.
• Locker and furniture requirements administered through Public Services and Procurement Canada, such as W0501-26R030 and the locker replacement project W0501-26M022.
• A Parks Canada requirement, 5P300-25-0078A for locker area furniture.
• Other requests for bids, including 9K001-S26-0113 and 1000035492.

The range of buyers shows that the wording belongs to the environmentally preferable packaging provisions used across a variety of goods purchases, not to one department.

What the exclusion does and does not cover

The exclusion is narrow. It covers packaging tape and nothing else named in the definition. It applies to the environmentally preferable packaging specification described in the individual solicitation, so it does not exempt a supplier from every packaging requirement in the bid.

Where the exclusion applies, a supplier does not need to replace packaging tape with an environmentally preferable alternative. Other packaging materials remain subject to the specification as the solicitation states it.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Read the environmental packaging clause and its definitions in every bid document. The definition and its applicability are built into each solicitation's own terms, so the bid document governs how Excluded Material is treated.

• Plan packaging so that every material other than packaging tape meets the environmentally preferable specification.
• Do not treat the packaging tape exclusion as a general waiver of packaging requirements.
• Check amendments to the solicitation, since the exclusion is tied to the current state of the market and the stated studies.
• Raise any question about how the clause applies through the contracting authority named in the bid document during the question period.

Bid teams that handle federal goods contracts regularly, including furniture, lockers and equipment supplied to defence and parks sites, will meet this clause often. Confirming how it is worded in each document keeps packaging plans compliant and avoids unnecessary substitution of packaging tape.