The Canadian government has introduced a new scoring system to monitor and evaluate its contractors. Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) began the phased 12-month rollout of the vendor performance management (VPM) program earlier this month, beginning with its procurement of a select number of professional services.

Contractors will be assessed in four categories related to the cost, quality, timeliness and management of the products or services they provide. The resulting score will be factored into a performance rating, which will then be considered in future procurement exercises.

“VPM promotes strong contract management through regular touchpoints between federal buyers, federal clients and private sector vendors. This will foster stronger relationships with the vendor community, maintain transparency on contractual expectations and allow vendors to course-correct performance if required,” states an  explanatory summary from PSPC.

VPM clauses will begin to appear in the PSPC’s bid solicitation documents over the coming year as it gradually extends the program to more types of contractors and suppliers. Performance ratings are not expected to be used to inform procurement decision-making until 2026, and prospective vendors are promised at least 90 days of advance notice before that occurs.

A process for contractors and suppliers to dispute their performance ratings is also promised. On the flipside, they will be entitled to cite positive performance ratings in their own promotional and marketing materials.