Fairness Monitoring Program (FMP)

The Fairness Monitoring Program (FMP) is an oversight program run by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). It gives departments, suppliers, Parliament and Canadians independent assurance that departmental activities, particularly procurements, are conducted in a fair, open and transparent manner. The program is described on the PSPC fairness monitoring page.

The assurance comes from independent fairness monitors. These are objective third parties who observe all or part of an activity and provide impartial opinions and reports. PSPC may use the program for its own procurements or for procurements it conducts on behalf of another federal department or agency.

What an independent fairness monitor does

A fairness monitor observes all or part of the procurement process and identifies fairness-related issues. The monitor then reports on what was observed. According to PSPC, a fairness-monitor report contains observations, impartial opinions and a professional attestation concerning the fairness, openness and transparency of the monitored activity.

Monitoring happens in real time, during the procurement itself. The program is intended to surface fairness issues early, while the contracting authority can still address them, rather than after a contract is awarded.

When a coverage assessment is mandatory

PSPC requires a fairness-monitoring coverage assessment in defined situations. The assessment is mandatory for departmental activities that need ministerial or Treasury Board approval, subject to listed exceptions. Those exceptions include non-competitive procurements and amendments to existing contracts.

The assessment is also mandatory for competitive procurements where the procurement-complexity assessment is level 4 or 5, or where the procurement-risk assessment is medium-high or high. These thresholds are set out on the PSPC fairness monitoring page.

Voluntary use and scope beyond procurement

The assessment is optional for other departmental activities when enhanced assurance of fairness, openness and transparency is desired. A department can therefore request monitoring even where no mandatory trigger applies.

The program is not limited to one type of buying. PSPC's 2019-2020 evaluation of the program describes it as a formal oversight mechanism covering the procurement of goods, services and construction services, as well as certain other departmental activities. It can also cover real-property transactions.

Example: the Strategic Tanker Transport Capability Project

PSPC's monitoring of the Strategic Tanker Transport Capability Project (Long Term In-Service Support) shows how the program works on a defence file. PSPC issued the procurement on behalf of the Department of National Defence under solicitations W847A-200275 and W847A-250401. BDO Canada LLP was engaged as the fairness monitor. The details are published on the PSPC fairness monitoring notice for the project.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The FMP is an oversight mechanism for the department and the contracting authority. It is not a supplier certification, and it is not a submission requirement. You do not apply to it or bid into it.

• On a monitored procurement, you may encounter the fairness monitor as an independent observer of the process.
• The monitor's report provides independent assurance about how the procurement was run.
• Large, complex or high-risk competitive procurements are the ones most likely to be covered, so plan for that scrutiny on major bids.
• Non-competitive procurements and contract amendments are among the listed exceptions to the mandatory assessment.

Follow the solicitation documents and process rules as written. Fairness monitoring observes whether the process is applied consistently to every bidder.