Standard Procurement Template

A Standard Procurement Template is a standardized government document used to prepare a procurement solicitation and the contract that results from it. Each template carries standard instructions, general conditions and other required clauses, so that buyers do not draft these terms from scratch for every requirement.

In the Canadian federal context, the templates are organized by requirement type and complexity. They cover low-dollar-value, medium-complexity and high-complexity bid solicitations and resulting contracts, as well as requests for standing offers (RFSOs) and requests for supply arrangements (RFSAs). They form part of the Standard Acquisition Clauses and Conditions (SACC) Manual and related departmental standard procurement documents, originally issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), now Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).

What the templates contain

The templates bundle the building blocks of a solicitation. Standard instructions tell bidders how to prepare and submit a response. General conditions set the baseline legal terms that apply to the resulting contract. Other required clauses are added according to the nature of the requirement. PWGSC's SACC material describes the procedures for using these departmental standard procurement templates, and you can read it in the SACC publication from PWGSC.

How federal templates are sorted by complexity

The federal templates are not one-size-fits-all. They are separated into these groups:

• Low-dollar-value bid solicitations and resulting contracts
• Medium-complexity bid solicitations and resulting contracts
• High-complexity bid solicitations and resulting contracts
• Requests for standing offers (RFSOs)
• Requests for supply arrangements (RFSAs)

A federal government guide concerning the Nunavut Settlement Area identifies the same set of templates, which shows how consistently the categories are used across federal procurement documents. See the guide on publications.gc.ca.

Who uses the templates and how

PWGSC's departmental standard procurement documents are intended for contracting officers preparing contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements, as described in a Government of Canada public accounts appendix. Use is not limited to PSPC.

• Federal department users of the Task and Solutions Professional Services (TSPS) task-based supply arrangement use a high-complexity bid solicitation template, chosen according to the estimated dollar value and complexity of the requirement. A model request for proposals and resulting contract clauses are made available to them on the TSPS task-based supply arrangement page.
• Correctional Service Canada's Financial Directive 350-3 requires the use of appropriate standard procurement templates when entering contracts with suppliers. It also directs staff to adapt approved templates according to the commodity, the contract circumstances and the template instructions.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The template is primarily a government-side document. It structures the solicitation and the contract, but the supplier does not fill it in as a standalone form. What you respond to is the solicitation the contracting authority issues, and you must follow its instructions, conditions, clauses, forms and response requirements.

Suppliers can also ask to see the underlying template. A federal supply arrangement solicitation on CanadaBuys states that suppliers may request copies of the standard procurement templates from the Supply Arrangement Authority or the Contracting Authority; see RFSA 19-0427A. Reviewing the template early shows which general conditions and clauses will govern a resulting contract.

Using a standard procurement template does not, on its own, create a separate supplier registration or certification requirement. Any such requirement comes from the specific solicitation, so read each bid document in full.