Guiding Principles

Guiding Principles, in Canadian public procurement, are the overarching principles that direct how a buyer conducts its procurement. At Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), they support the overarching principle of integrity and provide a clear framework for PSPC procurement processes, as set out on the CanadaBuys Guiding principles page.

They apply to PSPC buyers whether or not a particular action is expressly described in the buyer's guide. Principles such as integrity, fairness, openness, transparency, competition, accountability, and best value appear throughout federal procurement guidance. The term is a policy and process concept rather than an abbreviation or a technical standard.

The principles PSPC sets out

PSPC's guiding principles cover several commitments that shape every procurement. According to the CanadaBuys guidance, they include the following:

• Satisfying client operational requirements while obtaining best value.
• Advancing established government policies within the limits of international trade obligations.
• Keeping procurement competitive, except where specific exceptions apply.
• Subjecting potential offerors for a given requirement to the same conditions.
• Preserving the integrity of the contracting process.

Integrity is the principle that ties the others together. The remaining principles describe how a buyer protects it in practice.

Where the principles apply in the procurement cycle

PSPC buyers must respect the principles in all procurement activities. They must also be considered when developing a procurement strategy, as the CanadaBuys guidance on developing a procurement strategy explains. This means the principles influence decisions made long before a solicitation is published.

The same ideas appear in wider federal policy. The Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Procurement governs the management of federal procurement of goods, services, and construction, and its stated purpose includes ensuring best value to the Crown. Government of Canada training material, Procuring with Integrity, identifies openness, fairness, and transparency as fundamental principles of the federal procurement framework.

Guiding principles beyond PSPC

Other organizations publish their own guiding principles. The Canada Revenue Agency's Procurement Policy describes guiding principles and objectives for CRA procurement, together with related management and reporting obligations.

PSPC's ethical-procurement guidance also refers to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It presents them as a framework for state and business responsibilities in supply chains and recommends them as a reference when developing human-rights due-diligence policies and processes. See the ethical procurement expectations and the policy development and implementation guidance.

NATO uses the phrase in a separate, non-procurement setting. Its Human Security Approach and Guiding Principles were adopted at the Madrid Summit in June 2022 and give the Alliance a common understanding of human security, according to NATO's human security page. The published principles include being people-centred, prevention- and protection-oriented, consistent with international law, and respectful of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Suppliers should not confuse these with the procurement principles above.

What Guiding Principles mean for a supplier

The general guiding principles primarily direct the buyer's conduct and procurement strategy. They do not create one universal deliverable that every supplier must submit. What a supplier must do is set by the specific solicitation and the resulting contract, so those documents always take priority in a bid.

Knowing the principles still helps a bid team. Competitive procurement and equal conditions for offerors mean suppliers should expect the same rules to apply to all bidders for a requirement. Where a solicitation refers to ethical or human-rights expectations, the guidance above shows the framework the buyer has in mind. Read each solicitation closely, and check which organization's policy governs the buyer you are bidding to.