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Joint Solutions Procurement (JSP)
A mandatory pre-qualification and standing offer system used by the Government of Canada for the acquisition of information technology professional services, organized into streams and categories. Suppliers must hold JSP standing offers in relevant categories to bid on associated task authorizations and compete for IT service contracts.
Joint Solutions Procurement (JSP) is a pre-qualification system that controls access to federal IT professional services contracts. You can't just show up and bid when you see an interesting opportunity posted. If your firm wants to compete for these contracts, you need the right standing offers in place before task authorizations even hit the market—JSP acts as the gatekeeper that determines who gets invited to bid.
How It Works
JSP operates through what the government calls "solution-based supply arrangements"—a structure that organizes IT services into specific streams and categories. According to the official supply arrangement documentation, each holder is qualified for particular streams identified in Annex C at the time their arrangement is issued. The pre-qualification happens first, or you don't get to play.
Here's the thing: JSP falls under the broader Task and Solutions Professional Services (TSPS) framework, which Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) uses as a mandatory method of supply for IT professional services. When a department needs specialized IT help—software development, cybersecurity analysis, system integration, whatever—they issue a task authorization to suppliers who already hold standing offers in the relevant category.
The dollar thresholds matter. Tier 1 requirements run up to $3.75 million and can be handled by the client department or PSPC. Tier 2 requirements exceed that threshold and require PSPC involvement. For Tier 2 competitions, you're looking at a minimum 20 calendar days for bid submissions. If fewer than 15 suppliers are qualified in the applicable stream, PSPC publishes a Notice of Proposed Procurement on CanadaBuys to alert the market.
Key Considerations
Pre-qualification isn't permanent. Your standing offer has specific streams, security levels, and geographic parameters. A contract requiring Secret clearance won't come your way if you're only qualified at Protected B, even if the technical stream matches perfectly.
Multiple suppliers compete at the task level. Holding a JSP standing offer doesn't guarantee work—it guarantees you can compete. Each task authorization runs its own evaluation with mandatory and point-rated criteria that vary by requirement.
Regional and metropolitan qualifications create invisible barriers. You might hold the right stream but find yourself ineligible because the work is in a region or metro area where you didn't qualify during the standing offer phase.
The standing offer process itself is competitive. Getting your foot in the door requires responding to PSPC's periodic calls for suppliers, which involve their own evaluation processes and minimum requirements.
Related Terms
Standing Offer Agreement, Task Authorization, Method of Supply
Sources
In practice, treat JSP as a long-term business development activity rather than a quick path to contracts. The real work happens during pre-qualification, not when the task authorization appears.
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