Contracting Policy Notice 2025-3: New Guide to Mitigating Conflicts of Interest in Procurement

Overview

The Government of Canada is committed to maintaining fair, open and transparent procurement processes and upholding the values and ethics of the public service and the public interest. Key to this is mitigating real, apparent and potential conflicts of interest.

To help public servants understand and fulfil their conflict of interest obligations throughout the procurement process, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has published a Guide to Mitigating Conflict of Interest in Procurement.

The guide highlights conflict of interest requirements in relevant laws and policies, and includes information about:

• how to identify, report and monitor for conflicts of interest in procurement
• requirements and mitigation measures, such as proper documentation and record maintenance, protection of sensitive information and recusal or re-assignment of individuals with conflicts of interest, as appropriate
• supplier obligations under the Code of Conduct for Procurement
• how to report fraud and wrongdoing in the procurement process

Further, the guide includes two checklists with sample questions to help public servants involved in procurement appropriately identify, mitigate and report conflicts of interest, including when engaging suppliers.

Responsibilities

Under the Directive on Conflict of Interest, organizations are expected to have mechanisms in place to help individuals identify, report and effectively resolve real, apparent or potential conflict of interest and conflict of duties situations.

Under the Directive on the Management of Procurement, departments are required to have a departmental procurement management framework that maintains the integrity of the procurement process and facilitates compliance with all legal obligations, including under the Conflict of Interest Act.

Public servants are required to adhere to the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector and the Directive on Conflict of Interest at all times during the procurement process. Contracting authorities and business owners have additional responsibilities under the Directive on the Management of Procurement related to monitoring, preventing, identifying and reporting conflicts of interest and must follow mandatory procedures for business owners when procuring professional services (Appendix F of the Directive on the Management of Procurement).

Enquiries

Questions about this policy notice should be directed to TBS Public Enquiries.