Government Contracts Regulations (GCRs)

The Government Contracts Regulations (GCRs) are Canadian federal regulations that set the conditions under which the Government of Canada may enter into contracts for goods, services and construction. They establish the general requirement to solicit bids, the exceptions to competitive solicitation, and requirements concerning offers and contract security. The current instrument is registered as SOR/87-402. The full text is published on the Justice Laws website.

The GCRs are made under the Financial Administration Act. They are Canadian federal regulations and have no connection to NATO regulations. They apply to contracts entered into by a federal contracting authority that provide for payment by His Majesty, subject to specified exceptions. For a supplier, they are the legal baseline behind every federal solicitation.

Scope and legal authority of SOR/87-402

The regulations apply to federal goods, services and construction contracts, including procurements that departments and agencies conduct through Public Services and Procurement Canada. The CanadaBuys overview of the Financial Administration Act and the GCRs sets out how the regulations are organized. Section 4 restricts who may enter into contracts for legal services, section 5 addresses solicitation of offers, and section 6 addresses circumstances in which offers need not be solicited.

The GCRs sit alongside Treasury Board contracting authorities and policies, procurement solicitation requirements, contract security and integrity provisions. A 2025 Canada Gazette amendment describes the GCRs as setting conditions for entering into federal goods, services and construction contracts, and as establishing deemed terms that form part of every such contract.

Section 5: bids are the normal requirement

Section 5 makes solicitation of bids the normal requirement before a contracting authority enters into a contract. This is the rule behind the competitive tender notices that suppliers see on CanadaBuys. The Treasury Board policy text referencing the requirement reflects this default. Competition is the starting point, and any contract awarded without it must fit within an exception in the regulations.

Section 6: exceptions to soliciting bids

Section 6 permits a contract without soliciting bids in specified circumstances. Section 6 of the GCRs lists these circumstances:

• a pressing emergency where delay would be injurious to the public interest
• contracts below certain expenditure limits
• cases where soliciting bids would not be in the public interest
• cases where only one person is capable of performing the contract

The Department of National Defence identifies section 6(b) as allowing non-competitive procurement under $25,000 for goods and under $40,000 for services and construction services, as stated in its procurement overview.

Defence notices show the exceptions in use. An Advance Contract Award Notice can expressly name an exception to the GCRs as the basis for a proposed non-competitive contract, as in this CanadaBuys Advance Contract Award Notice.

Deemed terms and integrity clauses

The GCRs do more than govern how contracts are awarded. They also deem certain terms to form part of federal contracts. Amendments published in the Canada Gazette in 2011 deemed specified integrity clauses to be expressly included in federal construction, goods and services contracts. These terms apply whether or not a supplier has read them in the contract document.

What the GCRs mean for a supplier

A supplier responding to a competitive federal solicitation must submit its offer in accordance with the solicitation and any applicable security, integrity and other contractual requirements. A supplier proposing a non-competitive route must fit within an applicable GCR exception. A sole-source justification is not, by itself, a general exemption from the regulations.

Bid teams should read the notice for the exception it cites, confirm that the contract value and circumstances match it, and plan for the deemed integrity terms in every resulting contract.