Proactive Disclosure of Contracts

Proactive disclosure of contracts is the government's practice of publishing information about its contracts and contract amendments to promote transparency and accountability. In Canada, federal organizations publish this information themselves rather than waiting for someone to request it. The practice is set out in Treasury Board policy.

Treasury Board policy requires public disclosure of contracts over $10,000, subject to limited exceptions such as national security, as described in the Treasury Board guidance on proactive publication. The term belongs to Canadian federal transparency and contracting policy. It is not a NATO procurement term.

Policy instruments behind proactive disclosure

The practice reflects federal commitments announced in Budget 2004. It is implemented through several instruments: the Treasury Board Contracting Policy, the Directive on the Management of Procurement, Part 2 of the Access to Information Act, and the Guide to the Proactive Publication of Contracts. The Treasury Board Secretariat explains the most recent update to the guide in Contracting Policy Notice 2023-3. Deputy heads are responsible for making sure their organizations disclose on schedule.

Which contracts and amendments are disclosed

The current Treasury Board guidance sets out three categories that must be disclosed:

• A contract over $10,000.
• An amendment over $10,000, whether positive or negative.
• A positive amendment that raises the contract's initial value to an amended value over $10,000.

Standing offers and supply arrangements are not procurement contracts. Treasury Board policy still says they are disclosed for transparency purposes.

Timing, lower-value reporting and exceptions

Disclosure is quarterly. Federal departments publish the required information within one month after the end of each fiscal quarter, as the Treasury Board procurement directive provides.

Contracts and amendments valued at $10,000 or less are not listed individually. The guidance requires annual reporting of their volume and cumulative dollar value.

Limited exceptions apply. Disclosure can be withheld or limited where publication could compromise criminal investigations, litigation, national security or public safety, according to the directive.

The former public servant clause

Proactive-disclosure reports can also carry information about the contractor. Federal solicitations and resulting contracts may include a clause requiring the bidder or contractor to state whether it is a former public servant receiving a pension or lump-sum payment under the Public Service Superannuation Act. A request for proposal on CanadaBuys shows how this wording appears in a solicitation. That status information may be reported in departmental proactive-disclosure reports.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

A supplier does not normally publish the contract itself. The contracting department does that. Suppliers should still expect that the award, its value and any later amendment over the threshold will become public record.

Where a solicitation or contract contains the former-public-servant clause, the supplier must provide the requested status information and accepts that it may be reported publicly. Bid teams should complete that section accurately and keep the answer consistent across submissions. Published contract data also gives suppliers a record of who won past work and at what value, which is useful when preparing future bids.