Minimum Essential Requirements (MERs)

Minimum Essential Requirements (MERs) are the essential functional, physical, design, qualification, interchangeability, performance or output requirements that a supplier's proposed product, equipment, system or service must meet. In Canadian federal procurement, the term is used mainly in the Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN).

An ACAN tells the market that a department or agency intends to award a contract to a pre-identified supplier. It also gives other suppliers a chance to show they can meet the requirement. The MERs are the yardstick for that comparison: an interested supplier's statement of capabilities is assessed against them.

How MERs Work Inside an ACAN

The CanadaBuys Supply Manual includes model ACAN content with a section titled "Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities (Minimum Essential Requirements)." The notice must explain the criteria used to assess suppliers. It must also state that interested suppliers have to demonstrate that their product, equipment or system meets the listed requirements. The model text is in the CanadaBuys Supply Manual annexes.

The same guidance states that the pre-identified supplier must be evaluated on the same basis as every other supplier. The MERs therefore apply to everyone who responds, including the supplier the department has already named.

What Treasury Board Guidance Says MERs Should Contain

The Treasury Board Secretariat's ACAN guide describes the essential requirements that must be included in the notice. According to the guide, MERs should:

• summarize the essential functional characteristics and, where necessary, the physical or design characteristics;
• identify interchangeability requirements;
• include performance or output criteria where possible;
• refer, where applicable, to recognized Canadian or international standards, specifications and regulations.

This means MERs are written as requirements a supplier can verify, not as general statements of preference.

Where MERs Appear in Federal Notices

The MER heading is used across departments. The Department of National Defence uses it in defence notices, including the procurement of AN/SSQ-53G (GPS) DIFAR sonobuoys and of AN/SSQ-36B bathy sonobuoys.

The National Research Council Canada has used the same structure in a notice requiring a standards development organization accredited under the Standards Council of Canada, with specified experience and capability requirements.

Environment and Climate Change Canada placed its requirements for proficiency-testing services under the MER heading in its ACAN. The supplier had to show it could provide a proficiency-test program and related deliverables.

The NATO Use of the Term

NATO also uses "Minimum Essential Requirements" in technical interoperability work. The NISP Baseline 16 catalogue refers to MERs for Secure Communication Interoperability Protocol (SCIP) devices, including Network-Specific MERs, and for V.150.1 gateways. These are specialized technical uses rather than a general NATO-wide definition, and they differ from the ACAN usage in Canadian procurement.

What MERs Mean for a Supplier Bidding on Canadian Contracts

A supplier responding to an ACAN must submit a statement of capabilities showing that its proposed product, equipment, system or service meets all applicable MERs. Address each requirement directly with verifiable evidence. Depending on the notice, that can include technical characteristics, performance or output, standards compliance, qualifications, experience, rights and interoperability.

If the statement does not demonstrate compliance with the stated MERs, it does not establish that the supplier can perform the requirement. The contracting authority can then proceed with the pre-identified supplier. Read the MER section of each notice closely before the closing date, because it is the only basis on which your response is assessed.