As a result of their deliberations, committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

The Government of Canada establish a centre of expertise on agile and outcomes-based procurement, and incorporate agile principles, including multi-disciplinary procurement project teams and procurement bids with iterative feedback, in order to achieve desired outcomes, and that the centre be located within Public Services and Procurement Canada.

Recommendation 2

The Government of Canada increase the use of outcomes-based procurement approaches, where appropriate.

Recommendation 3

The Government of Canada provide training to procurement staff to increase their capacity on federal procurement and to develop expertise with agile and outcomes-based procurement approaches.

Recommendation 4

The Government of Canada, in particular the Treasury Board Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada, modernize its policies and procedures for contracting, including streamlining requirements and updating terms and conditions, taking into consideration the findings of the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman.

Recommendation 5

The Government of Canada, in particular the Treasury Board Secretariat, align procurement policies, processes, procedures, and practices to ensure ease and consistency of experiences for suppliers across all federal government departments and agencies.

Recommendation 6

The Government of Canada, in particular the Treasury Board Secretariat, learn from and use the expertise of Public Services and Procurement Canada in the development of government-wide procurement policy.

Recommendation 7

The Minister of Public Services and Procurement and the President of the Treasury Board work closely with the Minister of Small Business and Tourism to reduce administrative burden on small and medium enterprises in the procurement process.

Recommendation 8

The Government of Canada develop procurement strategies that will support small and medium enterprises and increase inclusivity, through consultation with small and medium enterprises and relevant experts.

Recommendation 9

The Government of Canada introduce a simplified and consistent process for procurements below the trade agreement thresholds across government, where applicable, and reduce the complexity of the process for small and medium enterprises, modeled after the simplified acquisition process best practices in the United States, such as the GSA Advantage Program.

Recommendation 10

The Government of Canada request that all procuring departments and agencies, during the early development of procurements, examine how small and medium enterprises, Indigenous-owned business, and women-owned business, are considered as part of the process.

Recommendation 11

The Government of Canada create a centralized repository of all standing offers issued by federal organizations to reduce duplication and to assess their effectiveness.

Recommendation 12

The Government of Canada simplify its invoicing process for small and medium enterprises and further accelerate its payments timelines, with a requirement to pay small and medium enterprises in less than 30 days.

Recommendation 13

The Government of Canada implement federal prompt payment legislation that includes timelines for payments to contractors and subcontractors, modeled after Ontario’s prompt payment legislation, where applicable.

Recommendation 14

The Government of Canada implement measures to ensure that there is appropriate risk sharing in federal contracts and to determine which terms and conditions are appropriate relative to the size, nature and complexity of the procurement, so that they do not unfairly disadvantage small and medium enterprises, and that the Treasury Board its policy on decision making in limiting contractor liability and its policy on contracting are updated and clarified to implement such measures.

Recommendation 15

The Government of Canada implement strategies to encourage and promote procurement officials and suppliers to place greater emphasis on best value for Canadians, by including value propositions that give greater weight to qualifications and value rather than primarily focusing on price.

Recommendation 16

The Government of Canada implement a supplier performance rating system to evaluate and track vendor performance, which includes a component that recognizes new suppliers.

Recommendation 17

The Government of Canada collect and measure contract data on the proportion of procurements that are currently awarded to different types of small and medium enterprises, including gender-based data and industry-specific data.

Recommendation 18

The Government of Canada collect and measure contract data for supply arrangements and standing offers to better understand how often businesses included on these contract vehicles are called on for work.

Recommendation 19

The Government of Canada establish targets for the value and the number of federal procurement contracts that it awards to small and medium enterprises.

Recommendation 20

The Government of Canada examine the possibility of establishing procurement set-asides, in compliance with Canada’s trade agreements, for small and medium enterprises, including set-asides for women-owned businesses.

Recommendation 21

The Government of Canada increase its recruitment, training and development of procurement specialists across all federal organizations and build on successful training programs, such as the intern procurement officer development program.

Recommendation 22

The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises increase its outreach and education activities to proactively engage with, evaluate the needs of, and provide training for small and medium enterprises to increase their ability to access procurement and to increase the number of successful bids and contract awards.

Recommendation 23

The Government of Canada increase the transparency of procurements by providing feedback to unsuccessful bidders and disclosing information on procurement outcomes.

Recommendation 24

The Government of Canada design procurement opportunities to facilitate the use of joint ventures and other partnerships between small and medium enterprises and with large businesses, and ensure that policies and practices are aligned to allow and encourage this approach.

Recommendation 25

The Government of Canada continue to run the Build in Canada Innovation Program as part of Innovative Solutions Canada, and that Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada use and build on the expertise of Public Services and Procurement Canada in the continued implementation of the program.

Recommendation 26

The Government of Canada expand the Build in Canada Innovation Program to increase the number of participants, increase marketing of the program and establish metrics to measure outcomes related to innovation.

Recommendation 27

The Government of Canada develop opportunities for successful participants of the Build in Canada Innovation Program to encourage follow-on sales with the government for a defined period of time following the completion of the program.

Recommendation 28

The Government of Canada collect, evaluate and track gender-based data and diversity-based data for socially-disadvantaged groups for all federal procurement contracts.

Recommendation 29

The Government of Canada develop procurement strategies, including simplifying its process, that will benefit women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses, through consultation with those groups.

Recommendation 30

The Government of Canada examine the possibility of using a weighting scheme to award points to small and medium enterprises and women-owned businesses when awarding federal contracts.

Recommendation 31

The Government of Canada examine and learn lessons from the experience of suppliers using the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business, as well as the successful practices in the United States, and consult with women-owned businesses when determining how these businesses will be certified.

Recommendation 32

The Government of Canada increase the participation of Indigenous businesses in federal procurement contracts by taking into account the culture of Indigenous communities and by developing strong relationships and partnerships through more in-person interactions.

Recommendation 33

The Government of Canada develop a multi-departmental approach for the administration of the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business, including greater roles and responsibilities for Public Services and Procurement Canada in the policy development and implementation and for the Treasury Board Secretariat to monitor, report and enforce departmental use and adherence to the policy.

Recommendation 34

The Government of Canada ensure that all procuring departments and agencies have a common interpretation of the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business and take advantage of the voluntary set-asides component for Indigenous businesses.

Recommendation 35

The Government of Canada publish on an annual basis a centralized report on the number and value of contracts awarded under the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business.

Recommendation 36

The Government of Canada conduct a gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) of the impact of the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business to identify potential barriers to different groups of Indigenous business owners.

Recommendation 37

The Government of Canada improve the current set-asides for Indigenous businesses to increase their use and promote contract awards to Indigenous businesses in order to respect the requirements of the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business and the set-asides.

Recommendation 38

The Government of Canada improve its data collection of Indigenous business activities to properly measure and evaluate the impact of the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business in order to identify challenges, provide greater accountability, and improve the Strategy as required.

Recommendation 39

The Government of Canada require large-scale contractors and suppliers to report on the use of diverse subcontractors, including Indigenous and women-owned businesses.

Recommendation 40

The Government of Canada phase in requirements that large-scale contractors advertise subcontracting opportunities for small and medium enterprises on the government’s procurement website, buyandsell.gc.ca.