March 2020: Consecutive weeks ruled waived temporarily

Following an assessment of the current unprecedented situation regarding office closures and social distancing, a decision was made by the Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) Temporary Help Services (THS) Supply arrangement (SA) Authority to waive the consecutive weeks rule temporarily. This will allow client departments with active THS contracts to suspend the work if necessary for resources who are not able to perform their tasks or not able to telework. Currently the maximum duration of a THS contract is 48 consecutive weeks, excluding the 24 weeks optional period. Furthermore, if client departments determine that it is feasible for all or part of the work to be performed remotely, contractors should be informed of this possibility and arrangements should be discussed between both parties.

THS users can now propose that a contractor suspend a THS contract and resume it at a later date or when the social distancing will be waived by the authority. This suspension can be done after having reached an agreement with the contractor regarding any required changes to the contract and seeking advice from client department Legal Services. Once the resource is able to resume performing their tasks, an amendment can be issued to the contract to resume work that must not go above a maximum of 48 total weeks of work or 72 total weeks of work when exercising the optional period.

The final decision on whether to suspend a contract or not lies with the client department who has awarded the THS contract. Departments must ensure that internal contracting policies are followed at all time. The PSPC THS SA Authority will notify client departments and contractors when this temporary exception ends.

Date modified:

2020-09-15