What’s new in procurement? Four changes to keep in mind when working with Defence Construction Canada
As part of CCA’s commitment to sharing best practices with our members, we invited Defence Construction Canada (DCC) to update members on what’s new in their procurement processes at a webinar held in December.
DCC’s National Director of Contract Services, Melanie Pouliot, explained the changes they have made to comply with new directives on the industrial security process, Official Languages Act, Indigenous procurement, and embodied carbon in construction materials.
Official Languages Act
Prior to recent changes to modernize the Official Languages Act, non-standardized documents such as drawings and specifications could be provided in only one official language if the federal department could show that documents would be requested in that language only. Now, all information and documentation must be provided in both official languages.
Pouliot described how DCC has created open construction source lists to implement construction contracts (commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, civil) under $10 million. The requests will be published through the MERX system and contractors who wish to have the opportunity to bid on DCC tenders will be required to submit their name for the source lists.
Contractors will need to provide the legal name of their company and their language preference for tender documents, contract documents and communication during the execution of the contract. At locations where all interested contractors have indicated the same unilingual language preference, DCC may elect to issue tender documents in only that language. Otherwise, tender documents will be issued in both official languages.
Indigenous procurement
DCC has developed an Indigenous business database to assist in meeting the federal government’s mandate that at least five per cent of the total value of all federal contracts be awarded directly or indirectly to Indigenous businesses. There are currently over 400 companies listed in the database.
The percentage of contracts being awarded by DCC and DND has been steadily increasing, reaching 8.8 per cent at the end of 2022 Q2, according to Pouliot.
Contract security
Pouliot also explained that DCC can no longer sponsor companies to achieve Document Safeguarding Capability (DSC) prior to a contract being awarded due to changes made by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to the federal contract security process. This means companies can no longer clear personnel prior to the contract being awarded.
In our discussions with PSPC, CCA will continue to stress the need to reduce the administrative burden associated with security clearances and the benefit of a government-wide security passport.
Embodied carbon in construction materials
A new Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) directive for low carbon concrete came into effect December 31, 2022. Projects above $10 million and using more than 100 m3 of ready-mix concrete will require disclosure of the carbon footprint of concrete and achieve a 10 per cent reduction of embodied concrete. DND and DCC have pilot projects underway in two regions of Canada (Ontario and Pacific) to identify any issues, challenges and lessons learned. While they have defined their specifications for low embodied concrete on these two projects, the identification of challenges and lessons learned will come once construction is completed.
If you have any questions about these changes, please reach out to Jorgen Kvist, CCA’s Director of Industry Practices and Procurement, at [email protected].