Amendments to the Government of Canada’s Contracts Regulations
Amendments have been made to the federal Government Contracts Regulations effective June 10, 2019. The amendments are intended to modernize the threshold for soliciting bids for service and construction contracts, reduce the risk of corruption and collusion, and make a number of housekeeping amendments to mitigate the risk of confusion and misinterpretation with respect to the Regulations. The amendments and their explanations are detailed in the Canada Gazette.
Increase to the Threshold for Sole-Sourced Bids
The main takeaway for most suppliers is that the $25,000 threshold for soliciting bids for services and construction contracts was increased to $40,000. The increase to the threshold adjusts for inflation since 1996, when the threshold was last amended.
As a result of the new threshold, sole-source services or construction contracts that are currently limited to $25,000 can be awarded for contract values up to $40,000. This enables government and suppliers to more easily do business together on these lower-dollar value contracts.
Other thresholds are unaffected by this change. This includes the CFTKA threshold (formerly NAFTA threshold) and other trade agreements.
