Current Standing Offer Contracts

What is a standing offer?

A standing offer is a contractual arrangement between the Province and a pre-approved supplier. Under the terms and conditions of a standing offer, the supplier agrees to provide certain goods or services on an "as required" basis, during a particular period of time and at a predetermined price or discount. The terms and conditions are set up in advance and vary depending on the type of goods or services to be provided.

What types of standing offers exist between the Province and its suppliers?

Several different types of standing offers are established on an ongoing basis. Standing offers for goods include items such as fuel oil, office equipment, building supplies, shop material and road maintenance. Standing offers for services include consultants for communications, business, information technology, training, human resources and temporary staffing services.

When are your tenders for standing offers issued?

The following table below gives a tentative schedule for several of our larger Standing Offers. These dates serve only as a guide and may not necessarily be the actual issue date for a particular opportunity:

STANDING OFFER	CONTRACT TERM	NEXT EXPECTED TENDER CALL
Temporary Services	Jan 18 2016	Ongoing Onboarding
Learning & Development Services	Sept 1 2013 - Feb2017	Nov 2016 to Jan 2017
Executive Search	Ongoing as of April 1, 2017	Ongoing Onboarding
Managed Business Services (formerly Consulting Services)	Ongoing as of Jul 2015	Ongoing Onboarding
IT Contingent Labour	Ongoing as of Nov 2013	Ongoing Onboarding
Building Design	Apr 2015 - Sep 30 2017	April 2017
Research & Evaluation Services	April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017	June 2017
Communications/Public Relations Services	April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017	June 2017
Writing, Editing & Translation Services	April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2018	January 2018
Marketing Services	April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2018	January 2018
Audio-Visual Services	April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2018	June 2018
Graphic Design Services	April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2018	June 2018
Web Services	April 1, 2016 – September 30, 2018	June 2018

How can my company or I become pre-approved as a standing offer supplier?

In most cases, standing offers are issued as regular tenders and are posted on our Procurement website. You must respond during the specified timeframe in order to be evaluated for potential acceptance for a standing offer. Any supplier who replies to these tenders meets the published requirements as determined during the evaluation will be accepted.

Now that I'm approved as a standing offer supplier, how and when am I contacted to provide goods or services?

Standing Offers are communicated to provincial departments through internal information systems and interfaces. When a department needs a particular good or service, they will access these systems and interfaces in order to review the standing offer that exists for that type of good or service and then select a supplier based on their departmental requirements. The department will then issue a 'Purchase Order" that is sent directly to you. Upon receipt, you are then authorized to provide the goods or services reflected in the Purchase Order, and after delivery is complete, you can then invoice the client department for payment.

As an approved supplier, you are eligible for consideration when a client need arises. However, this in itself is not a guarantee of business, but rather the 1st step in a 2-step process. The 2nd step rests with each approved supplier to market their services to clients and thereby increase their chances of doing business with the provincial government.

Federal Provincial Territorial Collaborative Procurements

As of May 2016, PWGSC, has permitted non-federal jurisdictions and specified organizations to use PWGSC Standing Offers Supply Arrangements and Request for Proposal to purchase certain goods where non-federal jurisdictions and specified organizations have been identified.

These include:

Provincial jurisdiction
Territorial jurisdiction
Municipal jurisdiction
Schools
Hospitals
Intergovernmental organizations
Canadian aid agencies
Canadian public health organizations

The Province of Nova Scotia entered an agreement effective November 4, 2016, with Public Works and Government Services Canada that allows Nova Scotia to access PWGSC’s standing offers, RFPs and other procurement tools on a voluntary basis.

Nova Scotia will specifically be identified within the procurement tool when the Province is participating. Government entities may access these tools immediately once awarded, and the Municipal, Academic, Institutions, Schools and Hospitals Sector may access them once they have signed an access agreement with the Province.

Refer to the following link for a list of applicable Government Entities and Municipal, Academic, Institutions, Schools and Hospitals Sector within Nova Scotia.
Please contact Geneviève Sharkey (genevieve.sharkey@novascotia.ca) should you have any questions.

Government Surplus

The Government of Nova Scotia’s surplus crown property asset(s) become available to the public and private sector(s) whenever provincial public sector entities (eg, agencies, departments, boards, commissions) declare asset(s) surplus. After efforts to recycle the surplus items within government have been exhausted, consideration may be given to schools, non-profit groups, invitational tender or auction.
Disposal-auction efforts for those assets are initiated publicly, advertised or offered online on behalf of the government through two third party resources: