Fairness Monitoring Coverage Assessment and Recommendation Form

The Fairness Monitoring Coverage Assessment and Recommendation Form is a Government of Canada assessment used to determine whether a procurement requires fairness monitoring and to recommend the appropriate coverage. Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) records identify it as form PWGSC-TPSGC 587, and Government of Canada acquisition-services records list it as the Fairness Monitoring Coverage Assessment and Recommendation form 587.

The form belongs to PSPC's Fairness Monitoring Program. Fairness monitoring is the independent observation of procurement activities to support fairness, openness and transparency. The form is completed before a decision is made on whether monitoring is warranted, so it sits at the front of the process rather than inside a bid. The PSPC fairness monitoring page sets out when the assessment applies.

What the form assesses

The assessment is triggered primarily by the complexity, risk, sensitivity or materiality of a procurement, and by approval requirements. PSPC's evaluation report on fairness monitoring states that departmental policy required an assessment for activities needing ministerial or Treasury Board approval. It also required one where branch risk instruments indicated that the form was needed.

The outcome is a recommendation on coverage. In other words, the form does not monitor anything itself. It records the judgment on whether an independent fairness monitor should observe the procurement and how.

When PSPC requires the assessment

PSPC identifies several situations on its fairness monitoring page:

• Approval-related activities: the assessment is mandatory for departmental activities subject to ministerial or Treasury Board approval, subject to listed exceptions.
• Complex competitive procurements: the assessment is mandatory for a competitive procurement when the procurement complexity assessment is level 4 or 5.
• Higher-risk competitive procurements: the assessment is mandatory for a competitive procurement when the procurement risk assessment is medium-high or high.
• Optional use: for other departmental activities, the assessment may be completed when enhanced assurance of fairness, openness and transparency is desired.

PSPC lists non-competitive procurements and amendments to existing contracts as exceptions to the mandatory approval-related assessment.

Evidence of the form in use

PSPC's evaluation found that procurements requiring Treasury Board approval had coverage assessment and recommendation forms completed in all reviewed cases for the relevant period. That finding is documented in the 2019-2020 evaluation report.

PSPC also publishes fairness monitoring reports for procurements that received coverage. Published examples include:

• Aircraft Maintenance Support Equipment, where a fairness monitor observed the competitive procurement process
• Electronic security maintenance
• Software engineering facility services
• Employment Insurance Benefits Delivery Modernization, a procurement issued by PSPC on behalf of Employment and Social Development Canada

What it means for a supplier

The form is an internal departmental assessment. It is not a bid form, and PSPC's sources do not require suppliers to complete it. A supplier will not fill it out or submit it with a proposal.

The practical effect is on the procurement itself. A complex or higher-risk competitive solicitation from PSPC may have a fairness monitor observing the process. Bid teams can read the published fairness monitoring reports to see how monitored procurements are described. Questions about the program can go to the Fairness Monitoring Program contact page.