Procurement file

A procurement file is the organized record of a procurement action. It contains documentation sufficient to provide a complete history of the procurement, from the initial request and the solicitation through award, contract administration and closeout.

The term belongs to procurement-records and contract-management work. NATO's procurement manual requires its bodies to maintain contract files with records of all procurement actions. In Canadian federal procurement, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) buyer procedures refer to documents that must be kept on the procurement file.

What a procurement file covers from request to closeout

NATO describes procurement as an end-to-end process. It begins with the identification of an unmet business need and ends with contract completion and closeout. The procurement file follows that whole span. It is not limited to the bid documents or to the signed contract.

The test of a complete file is whether someone reviewing it later could reconstruct what happened and why. NATO states that the documentation in a procurement file should be sufficient to constitute a complete history of the procurement.

How NATO structures contract files and supplier files

NATO's manual separates two kinds of record. A contract file is kept for each procurement action. A supplier general file holds supplier-related information. The two serve different purposes: one tracks a single buy, the other tracks the supplier.

NATO's procurement policy also defines solicitation documentation as the totality of documents shared by the procurement authority during the solicitation process. That material is part of what the contract file records about how the competition was run.

How PSPC buyers use the procurement file

PSPC's guidance on approval processes shows the file at work. Buyers must include the Procurement Risk Assessment (PRA) with the approval document and keep it on the procurement file. If the PRA is revised, the revised copy is attached to the approval document with the version and the reason for the revision.

The same guidance lists the approval documents a PSPC procurement can involve:

• a procurement plan
• a Contract Planning and Advance Approval (CPAA)
• a contract summary
• a contract request
• a Treasury Board submission
• a contract amendment request

Record keeping extends to assessment work as well. The assessor guidance for the Centralized Professional Services System requires a copy of the bid solicitation document to be kept on file.

Procurement file versus public procurement data

The procurement file is the buyer's internal record. It is different from the public datasets on CanadaBuys procurement and contracting data, which cover tender notices, contract history, standing offers and supply arrangements. The same data is published through the Open Government portal. These datasets show what the government has published about its procurements. They are not the file itself.

What a procurement file means for suppliers

Suppliers do not manage the procurement file, but what they submit and receive ends up in it. The solicitation document, the bid and the approval record all feed the buyer's history of the procurement. A bid team should treat the solicitation document as issued, with every amendment, as the reference record for the competition. Keeping your own matching record of the solicitation, your submission and any buyer correspondence lets you check your understanding against the buyer's file if questions come up during evaluation, award or contract administration.