Procurement at Shared Services Canada

Enterprise IT Procurement (EITP) ensures that the goods and services supplied by vendors and offered to our clients provide the best value for their business needs, are of high quality, and are delivered on time.‌

EITP enables Shared Services Canada (SSC) to follow a strategic sourcing and procurement plan through the centralization of contract administration and the acquisition of IT and other goods and services.‌

SSC has established:‌

• strong procurement governance and oversight focused on reviews of procurement activities to make sure rules, policies and laws are being followed
• a strong challenge function to validate technology decisions and make sure SSC negotiators have every possible advantage when negotiating large contracts
• strategies to maximize the consolidation of requirements for identical or similar equipment to drive better volume discounts
• agile procurement vehicles with prequalified vendors to increase procurement activity efficiency

SSC is dedicated to continually improving the way it procures goods and has made significant progress in reducing barriers to entry for small and medium-sized businesses and the inclusion of underrepresented socioeconomic communities.‌

SSC is committed to achieving the best value while obtaining the most secure and reliable information technology products and services for the Government of Canada and Canadians.‌

SSC conducts its procurement processes per the Government of Canada's Policy on the Planning and Management of Investments and the Directive on the Management of Procurement. Whenever possible, SSC uses competition to get the best value for Canadians.‌

Agile procurement

SSC is actively working with industry to make procurement simpler, more efficient, more flexible and less administratively burdensome for businesses working with the federal government.

SSC’s Centre of Expertise in Agile and Innovative Procurement (CoEAIP) successfully implemented the Agile Procurement Process 3.0 (APP 3.0), an outcomes-based procurement framework that incorporates elements of agile project management methodology to simplify and innovate procurement processes and to increase participation from vendors.

APP 3.0 was developed through extensive consultation and collaboration with industry stakeholders and will benefit all vendors involved in SSC procurement for IT goods and services.

For more information about APP 3.0, please contact coeaip-ceaan@ssc-spc.gc.ca.

In 2021, CoEAIP established a pilot project called ScaleUp, a social procurement initiative that aims to simplify the bidding process, incorporate agile concepts from APP 3.0 into procurements, and increase the diversity of bidders on Government of Canada contracts for competitive requirements up to $229,600. ScaleUp targets micro and small businesses, as well as businesses led or owned by women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and Indigenous Canadians, by setting aside procurements for those groups during competitive solicitations.

By being more inclusive of vendors from diverse communities, SSC increases the breadth of innovation and creativity involved in delivering government services to Canadians.

For more information about ScaleUp, please contact scaleup-selancer@ssc-spc.gc.ca.

Green procurement

SSC supports the Greening Government Strategy, led by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

By purchasing IT products that meet sustainability certifications (Green Electronics Council) SSC is using its buying power to help reduce the environmental impacts of GC IT infrastructure. The industry-certified products purchased by SSC from 2014 to 2020 will consume less energy throughout their lifetime, resulting in:

Text description – Saving Energy

A visual containing 2 side-by-side sections depicting energy savings through SSC's information technology procurements

The section on the left contains descriptor text that reads: "EPEAT's requirement that registered products meet, and often exceed, the latest ENERGY STAR specifications means the products acquired by SSC in fiscal year 2022-2023 will consume less energy throughout their lifetime, resulting in:"

The section on the right contains an image with 5 small infographical elements surrounding a lightbulb with the SSC Wi-Fi logo inside it. Small arrows lead from the lightbulb to each of the 5 elements.

Clockwise from the top left:

Graphic #1 is a person with a number of coins, each with a dollar sign on it.

"$7,150,852 US in lifetime cost savings"

Graphic #2 is a clock with a lightning bolt and a human figure.

"Savings of 123,400,320 KwH of electricity"

Graphic #3 is a house with a power cord, a lightbulb and plants sticking out of the roof and human figures.

"enough to power 10,158 average households for a year"

Graphic #4 and #5 go across the bottom of the section. They are connected by an equals sign.

Graphic #5 (left) contains a globe with CO2 written in it and a down arrow next to a person in a wheelchair.

"Greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 29,759,155 Kg of CO2 equivalents"

Graphic #4 (right) is a person riding a bicycle above a car with a cloud of emissions coming from its tailpipe.

"equal to taking 6,372 average passenger cars off the road for a year"

Text description – Environmental Impact

A visual containing 5 columns depicting the environmental impacts of SSC's information technology procurements

A descriptor text above the 5 columns reads: Over their lifetime, products that do not meet EPEAT criteria, the EPEAT-registered products purchased by Shared Services Canada in 2014-2019, will result in environmental impact reductions including:

First box:
Reduce use of primary material
273,268 metric tons = 52,552 elephants

Second box:
Eliminate the equivalent of
14, 029 metric tons = 7,542 average households' solid waste for a year

Third box:
Hazardous waste avoided
2,285 metric tons = 18,891 refrigerators

Fourth box:
Avoidance of water pollutant emissions
1,565 metric tons

Fifth box:
Reduce water consumption
429,036,343 litres = 172 Olympic-sized swimming pools