Procurement Innovations Centre of Expertise

1. Agile Procurement

Agile procurement is the practice of exercising more flexibility on meeting government operational requirements through innovative procurement approaches. Some of the most suitable agile-based activities for ESDC leaders to consider are:

• Challenge Based: asking industry to develop an innovative solution to an ESDC problem. This would be in support of the Innovation Solutions Canada (ISC) initiative, as well as ESDC programs in general.
• Collaboration Based (Co-Development): start-ups respond to a simplified RFP and work with government to co-develop a customized solution and subsequently procure it. Supplier owns license rights to commercialize.
• Modular Contracting: for large projects (> $10M), focus on building smaller but frequent short-term deliverables. Potential that initial increments can be built upon by subsequent suppliers.

For more information, see Agile Procurement (on GCPedia) and Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) presentation on Agile Procurement (PDF Version, 2.5 MB).

2. Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC)

This program, which is led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), aims to:

• stimulate the development and adoption of technological innovation in Canada;
• grow Canadian companies through direct funding to support early stage, pre-commercial R&D and to accelerate commercialization; (focus is on SMEs, women-owned, indigenous and other groups)
• develop new capabilities to meet departments' R&D needs;
• foster greater industry-research collaborations through the release of challenges for solutions that address key economic, social and environmental priorities.

The program is divided into two streams:

Challenge Stream – Early-stage R&D challenges

The Challenge Stream is a competitive process where participating departments can put challenges out to industry for them to attempt to solve. The PICOE team will work with ESDC branches to assist them in the development of ISC challenges. The Challenge Stream process is divided into three phases:

Phase 1 – Proof of Feasibility

• Proposals received in response to the challenge are evaluated
• Contract up to $150k is awarded for a period of 6 months
• Supplier submits a proof of feasibility report

Phase 2 – Prototype Development

• Supplier is invited to submit a prototype development proposal
• ISC reviews the feasibility report from Phase 1 and the prototype development proposal
• If approved, a contract up to $1M is awarded for a period of up to 2 years
• Supplier submits Phase 2 report

Phase 3 – Pathway to Commercialization

• Prototype developed under Phase 2 is evaluated to determine if it’s market ready
• If the solution is market ready, the supplier can sell it to any government department for up to 3 years without further competition.
• If the solution is not yet market ready, the supplier may be eligible for further research and development and testing through the Testing Stream.

Testing Stream – Late-stage prototype testing

The ISC Testing Stream, formerly known as the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP), is competitive process to fund the testing of late stage (TRL 7-9) innovations in real life settings. Contracts up to $550k can be awarded to test innovations through the Testing Stream. A list of pre-qualified innovations can be found on the ISC Testing Stream site.

$2.2M of ESDC’s operating budget has been set aside to apply only to ISC projects. Grants funding is not available at this time. Note that the funding set aside for ISC can only be used for Challenge Stream phase 1 and phase 2 contracts and Testing Stream contracts, and cannot be used to towards the purchase of a market ready solution in Phase 3.

Note that PSPC has sole contracting authority for R&D procurements, so they will be our partner in contracting for all phase 1 and 2 projectsISC program contracts.

See the ISC GCPedia site or contact PICOE for further information.

3. Social Procurement

The Government of Canada has committed to developing a Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy for Canada. This is a key priority in the mandate of both ESDC and PSPC. One aspect of this priority is supporting social enterprises, which are suppliers whose primary goal is to achieve social, cultural or environmental aims through the sale of goods and services. These social enterprises can be for-profit or non-profit but the majority of net profits must be directed to a social objective (e.g., reducing environmental impacts of its products or including local training in communities) with limited distribution to shareholders and owners.

ESDC launched a Pilot Policy on Catering Services (PDF Version, 127 KB) in the NCR which supported social enterprises in this industry segment. Although the pilot ended in 2020, PICOE is actively exploring other areas where Social Procurement can be leveraged.

PSPC is working on developing a social procurement policy, as well as guides and tools to support social procurement efforts in client departments.

See Social Innovation and Social Finance (on Canada.ca) for more information.

4. Accessibility in Procurement

ESDC is committed to an Accessible Canada where all Canadians have equal access to services. More accessibility in procurement and in procurement practices will provide an equal opportunity to Canadians, both internal and external to participate.

ESDC will work with other departments and central agencies (PSPC, TBS) to improve procurement practices.

IT managers are continuing their work to ensure that software and hardware purchases contain the appropriate accessible requirements. Contact Andre Richer for more information.

For more information:

• Accessible Canada (PDF, 1.34 MB) (ESDC, May 2017)
• Accessibility at Public Services and Procurement Canada
• Accessible Information Communication Technology (ICT)
• Office of Public Service Accessibility