Technical and Quality of the Deliverables

Technical and Quality of the Deliverables is a contract-performance activity. It concerns whether the deliverables a supplier provides satisfy the technical requirements and quality expectations set out in the contract. In the Government of Canada's procurement-management framework it is listed as activity 5.3.1, and responsibility for it sits with the project manager and technical authority.

The phrase comes from the Supply Manual and from the responsibility matrix that CanadaBuys publishes for agreements involving the Department of National Defence (DND). It names a task the Crown performs after award, rather than a clause a supplier signs. Suppliers still need to understand it, because it describes how the Crown judges the work they hand over.

Where activity 5.3.1 sits in the Supply Manual

The 2005 Supply Manual places the activity in the contract-performance phase. It is listed directly under 5.3 Ascertain Contract Performance. The same framework lists 5.3.2 Contractor's Engineering, Production and Quality Systems right beside it. Together the two items separate what the supplier delivers from the systems the supplier uses to produce it. The framework is published in the Supply Manual volume that carries activity 5.3.1, with related activities in the companion volume. The wider framework also covers activities such as providing government-furnished resources. The current Supply Manual chapter 1 annexes on CanadaBuys show the same 5.3 heading.

The PM/TA owns the check

The CanadaBuys page on agreements with the Department of National Defence includes the DND and PSPC responsibility matrix. In that matrix, item 5.3.1, Technical and Quality of the Deliverables, is assigned to the PM/TA, meaning the project manager and technical authority. The assignment shows who judges technical and quality questions during performance. That person is the project or technical representative, not the contracting authority acting alone.

How NATO solicitations express the same expectations

NATO documents do not use the Government of Canada heading. They use related wording that makes the expectations concrete. Canadian suppliers who bid on NATO work will see these requirements:

• A NATO Joint Warfare Centre solicitation states that deliverables must meet standards for accuracy, completeness and relevance to the requirements (JWC solicitation IFIB-ACT-JWC-24-116).
• A NATO Allied Command Transformation solicitation expects deliverables to be developed or delivered in high quality, and reporting deliverables to be produced at graduate level (ACT solicitation IFIB 023002).
• Another ACT solicitation requires final deliverables to conform to technical specifications, be complete and be free from material technical defects. It also requires the supplier to describe its quality-assurance and quality-control processes (ACT document rb026092).

These examples show what a technical and quality review looks at: conformity to specification, completeness, absence of defects, fitness for the stated purpose and the supplier's quality processes.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Treat the technical requirements and quality requirements in the solicitation as the standard your deliverables will be measured against. Expect the project manager or technical authority, not only the contracting officer, to assess them. Read the statement of work closely for specifications, formats and standards. Build quality-assurance and quality-control steps into your delivery plan, and be ready to describe them in your proposal. Keep records showing that each deliverable was checked before submission. Because the Supply Manual treats your engineering, production and quality systems as a separate item beside the deliverables, you should be prepared to show both the work product and the systems behind it.