Call #97 asks for active strategies for public servants on Indigenous procurement; it does not require mandatory training, performance measures, public reporting, or database control except where those tools form part of a procurement strategy. Canadian practice uses the operational vocabulary of the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, the mandatory minimum 5% Indigenous procurement target, departmental procurement plans, procurement management frameworks, set-asides, Indigenous Participation Plans, the Indigenous Business Directory, and Indigenous procurement initiatives. The strongest evidence is federal policy and performance reporting, supported by Indigenous-led applied research and provincial implementation examples. The status is Active because Canada has established, implemented, measured, reported, audited, and evaluated strategies that public servants use for Indigenous procurement, even though implementation remains uneven, federal-heavy, and not fully nationally coordinated across all orders of government.
Supporting Evidence
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Indigenous Services Canada
Type of Evidence: Government Resource
Summary of Key Findings:The Government of Canada is co-developing a Transformative Indigenous Procurement Strategy with Indigenous partners, building on the mandatory 5% Indigenous procurement target to expand Indigenous business participation, modernize PSIB, and gather feedback through engagement sessions.
Topics & Keywords:Indigenous business, Indigenous economic participation, Indigenous ownership criteria, Public procurement, supplier directoryLimitations:The strategy remains under development with no final policy, training program, or government-wide mandate established, and there is currently no requirement for all public servants to receive Indigenous procurement training.
More Information About Indigenous Services Canada
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Office of the Procurement Ombud
Type of Evidence: Government Report
Summary of Key Findings:The report identifies five foundational changes needed in Canadian federal procurement—establishing a Chief Procurement Officer position, creating a government-wide Vendor Performance Management system, developing one universal set of federal procurement rules, using artificial intelligence to modernize procurement tools, and establishing a framework for procurement data collection—informed by consultations with industry and federal procurement experts, including a finding that 59% of procurement specialists agreed a CPO could improve federal procurement amid long-standing systemic issues revealed by recent audits.
Topics & Keywords:artificial intelligence, Chief Procurement Officer, Federal procurement, procurement rules, vendor performance managementLimitations:The report’s findings may reflect bias due to the selective perspectives of the industry and federal procurement experts and stakeholders consulted, and its focus on federal procurement limits the generalizability of its conclusions to other levels of government or sectors.
More Information About Office of the Procurement Ombud