Professional Designation

A professional designation is a formal credential awarded to a person who has met defined requirements for professional qualifications. Those requirements typically include education or training, experience, demonstrated competency and an examination. The designation attaches to an individual, not to a company.

In the Government of Canada procurement context, the term refers to the designations issued under the Certification Program for the Federal Government Procurement and Materiel Management Communities. It recognized that a federal employee had met the program's qualification requirements in procurement or materiel management.

The three designations under the federal certification program

The program offered three designations:

• Certified Federal Specialist in Procurement (CFSP), Level I
• Certified Federal Specialist in Procurement (CFSP), Level II
• Certified Federal Specialist in Materiel Management (CFSMM), Level I

The program was built on the federal procurement and materiel-management competency suites. Candidates were assessed against requirements for training, experience and knowledge. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat managed the program for these communities, and the summary published by Public Services and Procurement Canada describes the same designations.

How the Canadian General Standards Board granted the designation

The Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) administered the certification process as the certification body. It assessed candidates independently against the program requirements. According to the CGSB certification process document, a candidate went through several steps:

• Enrolment in the program
• Completion of relevant training, or recognition of equivalencies
• Documentation of experience or competency evidence
• Successful completion of the required knowledge examination

Once the examination was passed, the professional designation was granted for a five-year period.

Maintenance, renewal and the end of the program

A designation holder had to take part in maintenance activities to keep the credential current. Renewal was done through a maintenance activity report or by successfully completing the knowledge examination again, as set out in the CGSB process document.

Certification was never a requirement for the federal workforce. The federal evaluation of the program states that certification was not mandatory for people working in procurement and materiel management. The program page states that the program ended on March 31, 2023, and that no new participants were being accepted.

What a professional designation means for suppliers bidding on Canadian public contracts

The designation describes the credentials of federal procurement and materiel-management staff. The program applied to Government of Canada employees in those roles, not generally to private-sector suppliers bidding on contracts. It is therefore not a credential a supplier needs to hold in order to bid.

For bid teams, the practical value is context. The people reviewing solicitations and administering contracts on the federal side may have earned a CFSP or CFSMM designation, which reflects training in federal procurement competencies and a tested knowledge of the field. Writing clear, compliant bids that follow the solicitation's stated requirements is the right way to work with that audience.

Where a solicitation does ask for professional credentials from a bidder's own staff, the requirement will be written into the solicitation document. Read the mandatory criteria and rated requirements in each notice closely, and confirm exactly which qualifications are asked for before you submit.