Considering accessibility criteria in procurement - justification form

With the adoption of Act to Ensure a Barrier-free Canada (Accessible Canada Act), the Government of Canada is fulfilling its mandate promise to introduce new accessibility legislation.

Clients can fill out and add this justification form to their procurement file to document their decision regarding to use accessibility criteria or not.

Note

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)’s goal is to ensure that the goods and services the Government of Canada (GC) buys are inclusive by design and accessible by default. Considering accessibility in public procurements is now an obligation in the Treasury Board Contracting Policy and accessibility criteria must be considered in THS requirements, where appropriate.

If after meaningful consideration, it is determined by the client that it is not appropriate to include accessibility criteria as part of the requirement, the client must provide a clear justification to the procurement officer/buyer as to why accessibility was not included in their procurement. The procurement officer/buyer should then ensure that the justification is kept on file for that procurement.

For more information please refer to section 4.2.26 and 4.2.27 of the Treasury Board Contracting Policy or contact the PSPC’s Accessible Procurement Resource Centre at tpsgc.pacraaccessible-apaccessibleprc.pwgsc@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

Justification on the inclusion of accessibility criteria in procurement (goods or services) (DOCX, 18KB)

Justification on the inclusion of accessibility criteria in procurement (goods or services)

The following may be used for documenting a justification when, after meaningful consideration of accessibility, a department decides that it is not appropriate to include accessibility criteria as part of commodity specification or it is unable to obtain goods or services that comply. This model is offered as a courtesy. If the justification is documented in another format or a procurement system, it may not be necessary to use this template.

After consideration, I conclude that the accessibility criteria do not have to be included in the project for the following reason:
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