Risk Response

A risk response is a planned action selected to address an identified risk, generally by changing the likelihood that the risk occurs, the impact if it does occur, or both. It is the point in risk management where a team moves from knowing a risk exists to deciding what will be done about it.

In Canadian federal procurement, the term appears in the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) Task-Based Supply Arrangement. There, risk management specialists recommend and document "Risk Responses" needed to manage the likelihood or impact of identified risks, and they help put those responses into practice.

Where risk response sits in the risk management process

Risk response belongs to the wider discipline of risk management. ISO 31000 describes risk management as identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating, monitoring and communicating risks. A risk response corresponds to the treatment step: once a risk has been identified and evaluated, a response is chosen to handle it.

That sequence matters in practice. A response is only as sound as the identification and evaluation that come before it, and it needs monitoring and communication afterward so that the people affected know what was decided.

How the PSPC Task-Based Supply Arrangement uses the term

The Task-Based Supply Arrangement includes a Project Management Services stream. Within that stream is a Risk management specialist category. The listed duties for that category use risk response in two places: recommending and documenting risk responses, and assisting with implementation of risk-response or mitigation strategies.

The same source places those duties inside a larger set of risk work. The wording shows that a risk response is a documented recommendation, not an informal intention, and that carrying it out is a separate activity from proposing it. Read the arrangement itself for the full wording of each category.

Duties that surround a risk response

The risk management specialist category describes a chain of work in which the risk response is one link. The listed duties include:

• Conducting risk assessments and evaluating potential risks and losses.
• Identifying project and procurement risks.
• Recommending alternative solutions, methodologies and strategies for risk mitigation and management.
• Assisting in the prioritization and assignment of risks.
• Assisting with the development or implementation of risk-management plans.
• Recommending and documenting risk responses needed to manage the likelihood or impact of identified risks.
• Assisting with implementation of risk-response or mitigation strategies.

Taken together, these duties show the expected order of work: find the risk, assess it, rank and assign it, choose a response, record it and help carry it out.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

If you propose resources in the risk management specialist category, expect your bid to be read against duties like those above. Show that your people can identify and assess risks, and that they can recommend a response and document it clearly. Show that they can also support its implementation, since the arrangement treats that as part of the role.

In your own proposals, state each risk response as a specific action tied to a named risk, and say whether it is meant to reduce likelihood, reduce impact, or both. Check each solicitation's own requirements for how risks and responses must be presented, and follow that wording in your bid.