Procurement reporting

Procurement reporting is the preparation, submission, maintenance and publication of information about procurement activities, contracts, awards and related records. Its purposes are accountability, transparency, audit and contract management. Buyers report on what they purchase, and suppliers often report on the work they deliver.

The phrase covers several distinct obligations. The Government of Canada speaks of reporting requirements for identifying, collecting, reporting and publishing contract information. NATO speaks of documenting procurement for reporting and auditing purposes. Which obligation applies to a supplier depends on the solicitation or contract.

Federal contract reporting under Treasury Board guidance

The Treasury Board Secretariat publishes an updated Guide to the Proactive Publication of Contracts. It supports federal departments in identifying, collecting, reporting and publishing contract information. Federal organizations submit contract reports, and those reports are consolidated in the Open Government Portal.

The reporting rules also set out what must be described. According to the updated guide, certain service contracts valued above $10,000 need a contract description, and certain service contracts valued above $1 million need a detailed description.

Federal reporting data fields include:

• the number of bids received;
• Government Contracts Regulations exceptions;
• award criteria;
• socio-economic indicators.

Award notices and contract history on CanadaBuys

CanadaBuys procurement and contracting data provides downloadable datasets. They include tender notices, award notices, standing offers, supply arrangements and contract history. The contract-history information covers contracts that Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) awarded on behalf of federal departments and agencies.

Some Government of Canada procurement data is also published through an Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) pilot. For a bid team, these datasets are a record of what buyers have awarded and how the awards were reported.

Progress reports and audit records in NATO procurement

NATO's Procurement Policy for NATO Common Funding requires procurement processes to be sufficiently justified and documented for reporting and auditing purposes. It also requires procurement authorities to keep procurement, contractual and payment records for audits.

Reporting can also fall on the contractor. A NATO solicitation for IT contractor support requires monthly progress reports. They cover:

• work completed;
• hours used compared with budget;
• task status;
• forecast work;
• current or anticipated problems.

What procurement reporting means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

No single Canadian-wide supplier obligation is called procurement reporting. The duty comes from the solicitation or contract, so read the reporting clauses before you bid. A supplier may have to:

• provide periodic progress or performance reports;
• report hours, expenditures, milestones, deliverables, risks or issues;
• supply the information the contracting authority needs for federal contract reporting and publication;
• retain supporting contractual, technical and financial records;
• follow the formats, deadlines, recipients and data fields the contract specifies.

Because award and contract-history data is published, your results on past contracts are visible to buyers and competitors. The PSPC guidance on selling to the federal government is a useful starting point for new suppliers.