SACC Manual (Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions Manual)

The SACC Manual is the Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions Manual. It is a Government of Canada manual produced by Public Works and Government Services Canada, now Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). It brought together the standard terms and conditions commonly used in federal contracting, and it was written for both suppliers and government clients.

Its contents were referred to in bidding opportunities and contracting activities. Rather than drafting every term from scratch, a contracting officer could point to a standard clause in the manual and build it into a solicitation or contract. The manual is a Canadian federal procurement instrument and has no connection to NATO terminology. It is also no longer maintained: it was archived as of June 2023. You can read the government publication record for the manual's original purpose.

What the SACC Manual contained

The manual organized standard clauses by subject. Areas covered included bidder instructions, requirements, financial security, insurance, delivery, inspection and acceptance, supply arrangements, and Indigenous procurement. Each clause carried a number, a date and a title, which made it easy to cite precisely.

Insurance is a good example of how the structure worked. Contracting officers were required to insert the applicable insurance clauses from the former Section G into the contract annex where insurance was needed. The archived Section G clause shows the form these clauses took.

How SACC clauses entered a solicitation or contract

SACC clauses can be incorporated by reference into competitive bid solicitations, contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements. The contracting officer selects the applicable clauses based on the requirement and its circumstances. A clause appearing in the manual did not mean it applied to every purchase.

In a supply arrangement and in the contracts that follow from it, clauses are identified by number, date and title. That identification is what fixes the exact wording a supplier is bound to. The PWGSC publication is one place where this practice is documented.

Archived in June 2023 and replaced by the Standard Contract Clause inventory

The SACC Manual was archived and is no longer maintained as of June 2023. Clauses that were previously marked “Active” are now displayed as archived. The CanadaBuys notice on the manual sets out this status.

The Government of Canada’s Standard Contract Clause inventory replaces the manual. It is published through the CanadaBuys contract clauses page. Contracts that were issued with SACC Manual clauses remain valid, so the archived wording still governs those agreements.

What the SACC Manual means for a supplier

A supplier must read and comply with the SACC clauses expressly identified in the solicitation, standing offer, supply arrangement or contract. Do not assume that every clause in the archived manual applies. Applicability depends on the clauses incorporated into the specific procurement document.

• For existing contracts, supply arrangements or standing offers that cite SACC clauses, look up each clause by its number, date and title and treat that wording as binding.
• For new procurements, expect to encounter the successor Standard Contract Clause inventory instead of the archived manual.
• When a bid document refers to a clause you do not recognize, check the identifier against the document itself before pricing or signing.

Bid teams that keep a record of the clauses cited in each live contract can answer compliance questions quickly and avoid relying on the wrong version of a term.