New Standards, Specifications or Listings

"New Standards, Specifications or Listings" is a heading in the Supply Manual of Public Works and Government Services Canada, now Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). It describes what a contracting officer does when a procurement needs a technical standard, specification or listing program that does not yet exist. The heading is a procurement-policy term. It is not a NATO abbreviation and it is not a supplier certification or a bid form.

The procedure starts once a need for a new standard, specification or listing program is identified. The contracting officer first determines whether a suitable document or listing is already under development. If none is, the officer contacts the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB), or suggests that the client department do so. The wording appears in the Supply Manual's 2005 edition and in a second 2005 volume.

The steps a contracting officer follows

• Recognize that the requirement calls for a new standard, specification or listing program.
• Determine whether a suitable document or listing is already under development.
• If nothing suitable is under development, contact CGSB, or suggest that the client do so.

The check for work already under development comes first. It prevents a new document from being started when a suitable one is on its way.

Why the client department owns the technical requirement

Clients are responsible for defining technical requirements. That is why the Supply Manual allows the contracting officer to suggest that the client contact CGSB rather than requiring the officer to do it. The contracting officer manages the procurement process, and the client department decides what the goods or services must do and which technical benchmarks they must meet.

The material sits in the Supply Manual chapter on defining the requirement. It deals with the selection or development of technical requirements for goods and services. It does not set rules for how suppliers prepare bids. The same text carries through later editions of the manual, including the 2006 volume and the 2008 volume.

Provisional CGSB standards for urgent needs

When a need is urgent, the Supply Manual allows CGSB to be asked to develop and publish a provisional CGSB standard. A provisional standard is for temporary use. It gives a procurement a documented technical basis while a formal consensus standard is developed. This avoids holding a purchase until the full standards process is finished.

CGSB as the reference point for standards

CGSB is the body the Supply Manual names for this procedure. PSPC describes its standards as relevant to procurement, compliance and industry use, and it publishes a catalogue of them. Suppliers can review the CGSB standards catalogue and the CGSB overview page on canada.ca to see which standards already exist.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

A bid solicitation may cite a CGSB standard, including a provisional one issued for an urgent need. Check the catalogue for the current version of any cited standard before you price or write your technical response. If your product or service does not fit an existing standard, the client department, not the supplier, defines the technical requirement, so raise questions through the contact named in the solicitation. A supplier does not apply under this heading. It is an internal procedure for contracting officers and clients, but its results show up in the standards that bids are evaluated against.