SACC Manual (Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions)

The SACC Manual is the Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions Manual, the Government of Canada's collection of standard instructions, clauses, conditions and templates used to structure federal procurement solicitations, contracts and supply arrangements. It was issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada, now Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).

Clauses from the manual could be incorporated into procurement documents by reference, so a bid solicitation or contract did not need to reproduce every clause in full. The manual was written principally for PSPC contracting officers, although other departments that run their own contracting could consult it when drafting clauses. It was archived and is no longer maintained as of June 2023, but contracts issued with SACC clauses remain valid. The CanadaBuys SACC Manual page records this status.

What the SACC Manual contained

The manual was organized into sections for standard instructions, templates, general conditions, supplemental conditions and standard procurement clauses. Those clauses covered the core commercial terms of a federal contract, including price, delivery, inspection and acceptance, insurance, financial security, supply arrangements and Indigenous procurement.

• Financial security: clauses could require bid security and, after award, performance security such as a performance bond. See the archived manual section on security.
• Supply arrangements: clauses addressed matters such as supplier price disclosure and periodic usage reporting. See the archived supply arrangement section.
• Indigenous procurement: a dedicated section held the clauses for Indigenous-procurement requirements, available in the archived Indigenous procurement section.
• Service contracts: general and supplemental conditions governed contractual obligations, intellectual property and other performance terms.

How SACC clauses appear in solicitations and contracts

PSPC bid solicitations and contracts identify each incorporated clause by its clause number, date and title. The corresponding text was published in the SACC Manual. A Department of National Defence bid solicitation on CanadaBuys, for example, identifies its solicitation and contract clauses by reference to the SACC Manual.

Use is not limited to PSPC. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada defines "Articles of Agreement" in its general conditions for service contracts as the clauses incorporated in full text or by reference from the SACC Manual. The department's implementation guide on intellectual property in Crown procurement contracts notes that departments conducting their own contracting can consult the manual when drafting intellectual-property clauses.

The archive and the Standard Contract Clause inventory

CanadaBuys states that the Standard Contract Clause inventory replaces the SACC Manual. The inventory is published in the contract clauses area of the CanadaBuys buyer's portal. The former active clauses remain available in archived form, and CanadaBuys explains the change in its notice on the archived SACC Manual.

The archive matters because older contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements may still cite SACC clauses. Those clauses continue to bind the parties under the terms of the contract, even though the manual itself is no longer updated.

What the SACC Manual means for a supplier

A supplier should read every SACC clause cited in a solicitation or resulting contract by its number, date and title, and comply with the incorporated obligations. These may concern bid submission, pricing, delivery, inspection and acceptance, insurance, security, reporting, intellectual property or other contract-specific requirements. Because the clause date is part of the citation, the version in force when the document was issued is the version that applies.

For existing contracts that cite SACC clauses, look up the cited clause in the archived manual. For new solicitations, check the clause references against the Standard Contract Clause inventory.