About the Integrity Regime

Learn how the Integrity Regime helps foster ethical business practices, ensure due process for suppliers and uphold the public trust in the procurement process.

What the regime does

In 2015, we introduced a regime to ensure the government does business only with ethical suppliers in Canada and abroad. Public Services and Procurement Canada is the department that runs the regime on behalf of the government.

The department determines whether a supplier is ineligible to do business with the government. Some offences lead to an automatic ineligibility, while others lead to a case-by-case review. Generally, it applies to procurement and real property transactions over $10,000.

The regime helps foster ethical business practices, ensure due process and uphold the public trust. It is transparent and rigorous and is consistent with best practices in Canada and abroad. The department consulted and continues to consult with industry associations and with independent experts in procurement ethics.

How we apply the regime

The regime is applied across government through agreements between Public Services and Procurement Canada and other federal departments and agencies.

The regime applies to:

• goods, services and construction contracts, subcontracts and real property agreements with a transaction value over $10,000
• contracts that:
  • are issued by a federal department or agency listed in schedule I, I.1 or II of the Federal Administration Act
  • contain provisions of the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy

It does not apply to contracts and real property agreements below $10,000. It also does not apply to transfer payments.

• Information bulletin: Contracts and real property agreements not requiring an integrity verification
• Information bulletin: transactions below $10,000
• Information bulletin: exclusion of transfer payments

The regime is not retroactive: it does not affect contracts in place before July 3, 2015. These contracts do not contain the integrity provisions.

Components of the regime

The regime is made up of three parts:

1. Ineligibility and Suspension Policy – sets out when and how a supplier may be declared ineligible or suspended from doing business with the government
2. Integrity directives – provide formal instructions to the federal departments and agencies that follow the policy
3. Integrity provisions – clauses that incorporate the policy into solicitations and the resulting contracts and real property agreements

What might make a supplier ineligible

These are the main reasons why a supplier will or may be ineligible to do business with the government. For the complete list of offences, consult the Guide to the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy.

• The supplier or any of its affiliates have been convicted of certain offences under the Criminal Code or under these acts:
  • Competition Act
  • Controlled Drugs and Substance Act
  • Corruption of Foreign Officials Act
  • Excise Tax Act
  • Financial Administration Act
  • Income Tax Act
  • Lobbying Act
• The supplier entered into a subcontract with an ineligible supplier
• The supplier provided a false or misleading certification or declaration to Public Services and Procurement Canada
• The supplier breached any term or condition of an administrative agreement under the policy