Public Services and Procurement Canada
Minister’s message: 2020 to 2021 Departmental Results Report

I am pleased to present Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) Departmental Results Report for 2020 to 2021, which highlights the department’s achievements in delivering on its diverse mandate. PSPC supports the everyday work of the Government of Canada as its central purchasing agent, real property manager and linguistic authority. PSPC is also the government’s pay and pension administrator, treasurer, and accountant. The department’s work helps to build an inclusive, innovative and accessible Canadian economy and society.

In 2020 to 2021, public servants working at PSPC played a key role in supporting Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by procuring essential medical supplies, equipment, and services to keep our front line health care workers, public servants, essential workers and Canadians safe. PSPC established purchase agreements with promising vaccine suppliers that secured a diversified vaccine portfolio with enough doses for every eligible Canadian.

While helping tackle COVID-19, the department’s resilient workforce remained dedicated to making progress on all aspects of PSPC’s mandate. The department advanced initiatives such as a guide on procurement pricing and a framework on vendor management to strengthen PSPC’s stewardship of procurement. These and other initiatives are ensuring that federal organizations have the products and services they need, when they need them, at the best value to Canadians.

The department continued to implement the innovative cloud-based electronic procurement solution that allows businesses—big and small—to bid more easily on tender opportunities and manage contracts and orders for goods and services from the government. This solution has already been adopted as the default approach for procurements related to COVID-19.

In support of reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, PSPC continued to work with federal partners towards a target of at least 5% of contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses. As part of the department’s COVID-19 response, 36 contracts worth approximately $122 million were awarded to 27 self-identified Indigenous businesses for logistics services, personal protective equipment and other goods and services. PSPC also continued to widen the use of Indigenous benefits plans in contracts under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), and to provide employees with the knowledge and tools to engage appropriately with Indigenous partners.

PSPC continued to advance key procurements for the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Coast Guard in support of Canada’s defence policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged. Bids on advanced fighter jets continue to be evaluated towards a contract award in 2022, and the first of 16 fixed-wing search and rescue CC295 aircraft has been delivered.

Through the NSS, construction of large vessels continued for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard. A key milestone included delivery of the third and final offshore fisheries science vessel, which marked the completion of the first class of large ships built under the NSS. Construction of other large vessels is underway, including 3 additional Arctic and offshore patrol ships, the first joint support ship and the offshore oceanographic science vessel. Finally, design work is progressing for the multi-purpose vessels and the Canadian surface combatants. Work also continued on construction, repair, refit and maintenance of other vessels, including commercial icebreakers. In addition, engagement with Chantier Davie continued regarding the shipyard’s pre-qualification to become the third strategic partner under the NSS.

In 2020 to 2021, PSPC staff continued efforts to ensure public servants are paid accurately and on time. In addition to keeping up with new intake and implementing new collective agreements, the department’s team managed to significantly reduce the number of cases waiting to be processed at the Pay Centre.

As the government’s real property custodian, PSPC’s dedicated staff ensured that government properties remained safe and operational throughout the pandemic. In support of the government’s priority to fight climate change, PSPC took several steps to reduce its carbon footprint including establishing clean energy contracts with provinces, adopting measures to reduce plastic waste in government buildings, supporting the conversion of government fleets to zero-emission vehicles, and aiming for net-zero carbon operations for the government.

Translation Bureau employees worked tirelessly and provided uninterrupted translation and interpretation services to the Parliament of Canada and the Government of Canada in official, foreign and Indigenous languages during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Sign language interpreters helped communicate information at more than 400 public health news conferences and other pandemic-related briefings. The provision of these linguistic services was crucial in the delivery of national communications to all Canadians.

Finally, the Receiver General processed an exceptionally high volume of payments for the social benefit programs related to COVID-19, ensuring that Canadians, businesses and organizations received payments on time.

These are only a few highlights of PSPC’s achievements over the past year. I invite you to read more about the department’s progress. The work highlighted in this report is a testament to the enormous efforts of our dedicated PSPC employees to serve Canadians.

Filomena Tassi
Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Filomena Tassi, PC, MP Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada