Procurement Complexity Assessment

A Procurement Complexity Assessment is an assessment of a requisition's complexity level in Canadian federal procurement. Its purpose is to direct the requirement through the appropriate procurement process stream and assign it to a contracting officer with the necessary expertise. CanadaBuys defines the term in its glossary as a step every requisition undergoes.

The current process uses five complexity levels, numbered 1 to 5. It is part of the broader complexity and procurement risk assessment process that CanadaBuys describes for buyer organizations, and it is closely associated with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).

The five complexity levels and what defines them

CanadaBuys publishes the characteristics of each procurement complexity level. In summary:

• Level 1: lower-complexity procurements, including call-ups against a standing offer that do not meet the criteria for a higher level.
• Level 2: requirements involving commercially available goods, subjective service results, or existing technology and processes.
• Level 3: requirements involving new or combined technologies or processes, developmental work, high uncertainty or an untested procurement strategy.
• Level 4: enterprise-wide, transformational requirements involving multiple stakeholders, extensive contract administration or multiple levels of government.
• Level 5: transformational requirements affecting public policy or culture, with extensive stakeholder partnerships, shared decision-making and highly unpredictable contract administration.

Who determines the level and how it is recorded

The manager responsible for the requirement determines the complexity level. Under the CanadaBuys guidance on determining complexity, the selected level must be documented, dated and signed on the procurement file. This creates a record of how the buyer classified the requirement at the outset.

Reassessment and the Procurement Risk Assessment

The level is not fixed once it is set. If new information or a change in procurement strategy affects complexity, the assessment must be revisited. A procurement that was streamed incorrectly must be reassigned and processed under the revised complexity level, as set out in the guidance on adjusting complexity levels.

The level also drives the next step. PSPC buyers must complete a Procurement Risk Assessment in accordance with the predetermined complexity level, include it with the approval documentation and retain it on the procurement file. The approval processes page sets out this requirement.

Earlier questionnaire and the Treasury Board PCRA tool

An earlier federal process used a Procurement Complexity Assessment questionnaire. A federal audit described it as a way to classify a procurement as basic, standard or complex. That included the creation, renewal or extension of a standing offer or supply arrangement. The current five-level model replaces those three categories.

The term should not be confused with the Project Complexity and Risk Assessment (PCRA), a project-management tool administered by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. The PCRA tool contains 64 questions, including a procurement-risk section. It is a separate instrument from the PSPC procurement complexity assessment.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The assessment is a buyer-side step. The responsible manager determines and documents the level, and suppliers do not complete it. For a bid team, the published level characteristics show how a buyer views a requirement. Developmental work, new technologies, uncertain outcomes, multiple stakeholders or several levels of government point to higher levels. Commercially available goods and standing offer call-ups point to lower ones. Reading a solicitation against those characteristics helps a team judge the scale of the requirement. Because buyers must reassess when circumstances change, an amendment to a solicitation can also signal a shift in how the buyer rates the work.