INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

The Supply Chain Canada Workshops offer professionals the chance to learn directly from expert instructors with hands-on industry experience. These workshops provide practice tools and strategies to tackle the complex challenges in today’s supply chain sector.

Designed to deliver actionable insights, you’ll gain knowledge you can apply immediately to enhance your performance and advance your career. In addition, you’ll engage with fellow supply chain professionals from across Canada, expanding your network and exchanging ideas that will help you grow both personally and professionally.

Build confident, compliant, value-for-money procurement in the public sector. Updated for 2025 with brief, optional notes on using modern tools (e.g., generative AI) to speed up routine tasks—without changing your established processes.

Participants will explore the fundamentals of public procurement, including:

• Understanding Public Procurement: Gain insight into the scale and importance of Canada's public procurement landscape, the regulatory environment, and the critical role procurement professionals play as stewards of public funds.
• Risk Identification and Mitigation: Learn how to recognize and manage key risks such as legal compliance issues, trade agreement disputes, and reputational damage, ensuring procurement processes are both compliant and safeguarded against potential liabilities.
• Governance and Best Practices: Review the importance of robust procurement policies, standardized procedures, and practical tools such as templates and checklists. Examine real-world examples of procurement policies, including sustainable and socially responsible procurement, to reinforce transparency, fairness, and accountability in public-sector procurement.

• Those new to public sector procurement
• Public sector procurement professionals
• New/transitioning public-sector buyers and supply chain staff
• Program, finance, and IT partners who support procurement
• Vendors seeking a buyer’s-eye view of public procurement

Participants will be able to:

• Explain core principles (fairness, openness, transparency) and the procurement lifecycle
• Navigate applicable trade agreements and basic contract-law concepts (e.g., CFTA, CETA, CPTPP; regional if applicable)
• Plan and run defensible RFx processes using policies, templates, and checklists
• Identify and mitigate common risks (legal, trade, probity, documentation)
• Prepare audit-ready files and clear communication with stakeholders and suppliers
• Recognize safe, limited ways modern tools can help with routine drafting or summarizing—without sharing sensitive information

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

• Budget pressure and scrutiny on value-for-money
• Supply uncertainty, vendor risk, and policy changes
• Expectations for fairness, documentation quality, and timely debriefs

WHAT YOU TAKE AWAY

• RFx templates (SOW outline, evaluation matrix, debrief checklist)
• Risk register starter and process checklists
• Trade-agreement quick-reference
• A few simple prompt patterns you can adapt internally