Supplier diversity and social procurement
Explore how Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is increasing supplier diversity, reducing barriers, and enhancing business opportunities for underrepresented groups.
On this page
- Supplier Diversity Action Plan: January 2022
- Policy on Social Procurement: May 2021
- Developing the action plan and policy
- Related links
Supplier Diversity Action Plan: January 2022
In January 2022, we announced our plan to help bring more businesses from underrepresented groups into federal government procurement. The Supplier Diversity Action Plan supports an inclusive economy and helps underrepresented businesses in Canada be more competitive and successful.
More information
Supplier Diversity Action Plan
Policy on Social Procurement: May 2021
In May 2021, we launched our Policy on Social Procurement. It incorporates socio-economic considerations into the procurement process. The goals are to:
- enhance best value in procurement
- provide a framework for including socio-economic measures and goals in procurement
- reduce barriers and enhance economic and social opportunities for underrepresented and equity-deserving groups
- establish the policy basis for collecting, protecting, and using of suppliers’ personal information for the purposes of administering the policy
More information
Developing the action plan and policy
This new policy is part of our efforts to modernize federal procurement. We developed them based on the pilot project and feedback from Canadian businesses.
Pilot project
From 2018 to 2020, we conducted the pilot project to test how the inclusion of socio-economic objectives in federal procurements could give us the best value. Best value in procurement goes beyond the lowest price. It includes positive social, economic and environmental objectives and outcomes.
The purpose of the pilot project was to see how we could use federal procurements to achieve positive socio-economic outcomes such as:
- increasing the diversity of suppliers
- increasing employment and skills development for underrepresented groups
- enhancing supports for small businesses
- reducing greenhouse gas emissions and plastic waste among other positive environmental outcomes
In total, 46 test procurements included the following socio-economic objectives:
- 21 with social benefit criteria
- 16 with supplier diversity objectives
- 11 with green/environmental objectives
Social and supplier diversity results
The results were generally positive. The pilot aimed to provide social benefits and increase supplier diversity and had the following results:
- 55 suppliers from underrepresented groups received contracts
- 297 underrepresented persons were employed
- 350 underrepresented persons received 8,655 hours of training
The contracts awarded to underrepresented suppliers included approximately:
- 53% women-owned businesses
- 31% Indigenous businesses
- 14.5% visible minority-owned businesses
- 2% businesses owned by persons with disabilities
Environmental results
The majority of the awarded contracts with environmental objectives achieved positive environmental outcomes.
Overall results for the pilot project
Results showed that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to including socio-economic objectives in federal procurement. A variety of approaches can be used depending on the socio-economic objectives of the procurement.
The pilot project confirmed that we can include socio-economic considerations in a wide range of federal procurements. They also showed that additional procurement policies and initiatives could support these efforts.
Feedback from businesses
In July 2021, we issued a Request for Information (RFI) to Black-owned or -led businesses inviting them to share information about their experiences with federal procurement.
Procurement Assistance Canada directs outreach efforts to encourage and support Black-owned and other businesses in accessing federal procurement opportunities.
Executive summary: Response from the Request for Information on Black-owned or -led businesses
In December 2021, we launched RFIs for businesses owned or led by persons with disabilities and the 2SLGBTQI+ community. The results provide more information on barriers the businesses have faced and ways the Government of Canada can support these groups in accessing federal procurement opportunities.
- Invitation to Canadian businesses owned or led by persons with disabilities to tell us about their businesses
- Invitation to Canadian LGBTQ2+ (2SLGBTQI+) -owned or -led businesses to tell us about their businesses
In 2022, PSPC commissioned The Social Economy Through Social Inclusion (SETSI) to conduct several engagement sessions with Black businesses to gauge an understanding of the Black business ecosystem in Canada through engaging with industry stakeholders.
In 2022, PSPC also commissioned BDO Canada to facilitate industry engagements, including diverse suppliers, industry associations, social enterprises, social purpose organizations and other industry stakeholders to receive feedback on key elements of the Program. The engagement sessions were organized through a collaborative approach with colleagues from federal organizations working with similar stakeholders such as Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).
Engagement sessions were held throughout 2022 to seek feedback from diverse businesses, social purpose organizations such as Buy Social Canada and the Supplier Advisory Committee as well as supplier diversity roundtables led by the Minister of PSPC. The Minister met with business and organizational representatives from the Black business community, from the 2SLGBTQI+ community, from the persons with disabilities community and with former participants from the Procurement Assistance Canada Coaching Service Pilot.
Stakeholder feedback highlighted the need to provide federally funded coaching to successfully win contracts, the need to reduce the complexity of the bidding process for small businesses lacking capacity, reduce financial barriers to bidding, and mentoring suppliers on how to submit successful bids.
Modernizing procurement
The social procurement initiative above is key to modernizing federal procurement, and it complements our existing Indigenous, green, ethical and accessible procurement initiatives.