DATE: July 17, 2000
TO: Functional Heads, Finance and Administration of all Departments and Agencies
SUBJECT: EXTENSION OF TIME ELEMENT OF CONTRACTS
SUMMARY
TREASURY BOARD APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE TIME ELEMENT OF CONTRACTS ISSUED AFTER APRIL 15, 1999 WILL NO
LONGER BE REQUIRED IF:
- THERE ARE NO FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS;
- WHERE THE DATE INCLUDED IN THE ORIGINAL PROPOSAL WAS NOT CONSIDERED A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF THE TREASURY BOARD
APPROVAL; AND
- WHERE THE DATE/TIME PERIOD IN THE ORIGINAL PROPOSAL CONSIDERED BY THE BOARD WAS INDICATED TO BE APPROXIMATE OR
NON-SPECIFIC.
SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS ON CONTRACTS ISSUED PRIOR TO APRIL 15, 1999.
Background
1. In the past, contracts approved by the Treasury Board normally required the further approval of the Board to be
amended, unless the original approval provided a specific amendment authority and the cumulative value of the amendment
sought was within the limits of that authority.
2. Similarly, any subsequent amendments required Treasury Board approval, unless the cumulative value of such
amendments did not exceed the amendment limit for non-competitive contracts of the same type.
3. Effective immediately, Treasury Board approval will no longer be required for amendments simply to extend the
completion date as long as there is no change to the scope or value of the contract and if the conditions set out below
are met. Likewise, an amended contract may be further amended simply to extend the completion date without returning to
the Board, as long as the conditions noted below are met.
Contracts previously approved by Treasury Board and issued after April 15, 1999
4. The time element of a contract (or amended contract, as the case may be) previously approved by the Treasury
Board and issued after April 15, 1999 may be extended by the lesser of two years or 50 per cent of the original time
indicated, where the time element/date meets all of the following criteria:
(a) There is no financial implication to a date change or where the financial impact is within the contracting
limits specified in the Treasury Board Contracts Directive.
(b) Where the date included in the original proposal was not considered a critical part of the approval of that
proposal by the Treasury Board; and
(c) Where the date/time period in the original proposal was indicated to be approximate or non-specific.
Contracts issued on or before April 15, 1999
5. For a contract (or amended contract, as the case may be) issued on or prior to April 15, 1999, the time element
may be extended by the Treasury Board Secretariat, on request by and in consultation with departments, if it is
determined that the criteria in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of the previous paragraph apply.
Contracting Policy Web Site
6. This notice will be incorporated into the electronic version of the Contracting Policy in the near future.
7. Online access: All TBS publications are now available online via the TBS home page on GENet. To access this site,
type the following in the address section of your World Wide Web browser: http://publiservice.tbs-sct.gc.ca/.
8. The Government Telecommunications and Informatics Services (GTIS) manages GENet. For help in accessing it, please
contact your Informatics Division or your departmental library. The same publications are also available via the TBS
home page on the Internet. The address is: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/.
9. You will be able to access this Contracting Policy Notice on the home page via Policies and Publications.
In this page, click on Contracting. Here, you will find a listing of links to various contracting related
material, including the list of all Contracting Policy Notices and TB circulars still in effect.
Enquiries
10. Enquiries concerning this Contracting Policy Notice may be addressed to Procurement Policy Division,
Comptrollership Branch, Treasury Board Secretariat at (613) 957-2432, by fax at (613) 952-1381 or by E-mail at: mo.enoch@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
Jane Cochran
Senior Director
Procurement Policy Division
Comptrollership Branch
Distribution: TB06, TB07, TB010, T004, T009, T010, T022, T023, T024, T025, T036, T038, T041, T161.
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