The holder lists for TBIPS, SBIPS, TSPS and ProServices are still not published, but every arrangement awarded since 2019 is a row in CanadaBuys contract history. Holder status can be checked, with a date, for firms qualified in that window.
A correction to the 30 August entry, which was half right. The published
holder file still carries no TBIPS, SBIPS, TSPS or ProServices records, and the
Centralized Professional Services System is still not open data. What we had
missed: PSPC records each supply arrangement it awards as a contract in the
contract-history dataset, instrument type Supply Arrangement, titled
“TBIPS SA – firm”, “SBIPS SA – firm”, “TSPS SA (Task-Based) – firm” or
“ProServices SA – firm”, with the firm’s legal name and the award date.
Counted on 5 September 2026 in the record this practice holds: 1,231
ProServices arrangement awards naming 610 firms, and 198 TSPS awards naming
120; TBIPS and SBIPS awards are titled the same way. The record begins in 2019.
What it means for anyone reading a supplier list. A claim that a firm is
not on one of those vehicles can now rest on two checks rather than one: no
arrangement award under the vehicle names the firm, and no contract under any
arrangement in the category names it either. It is still not a register - a
firm qualified before 2019, or under an earlier issue of the arrangement, may
not appear - and every report we write says so and invites the correction.
We changed the wording our reports may use the same day we confirmed this,
and the explainers on this site were corrected with it.
PSPC's open holder file covers Temporary Help Services and not TBIPS, SBIPS, TSPS or ProServices. Nobody can tell you from open data alone whether a firm holds one of those.
The published PSPC file of standing offer and supply arrangement holders is
capped at 6,000 rows and contains no TBIPS, SBIPS, TSPS or ProServices
records. Of the five methods of supply this practice works with, only Temporary
Help Services is published. The rest live in the Centralized Professional
Services ePortal, which is not open data.
What it means for anyone reading a supplier list. Any claim that a firm is
not on one of those vehicles - including ours - is an inference from award
history rather than a fact from a register. We say so on every report that makes
one, and invite the correction.
It is a small thing that changes what an entire category of analysis can
honestly claim, and it is not written down anywhere obvious. That is why it is
here.
Source: PSPC standing offer and supply arrangement holders file, checked 30 August 2026
A new ProServices supplier needs an SAP Business Network ID and a CRA business number, no security screening and no insurance, and a category passes on one reference's reply to one PSPC email. Plan the references, not the paperwork.
Three things changed for a firm entering ProServices, and this site said the
opposite of each until 8 September, when we walked a submission end to end.
No security requirement on the arrangement. Section 2.1 of the amended
request for supply arrangements removes it. ProServices no longer sponsors
Designated Organization Screenings; security is set by the buying department at
the bid stage, and a new supplier leaves the Security and Security Sponsorship
certifications in CPSS blank.
No Procurement Business Number. The Supplier Registration Information
system retired on 3 July 2026 and the PBN with it. CPSS now keys on the SAP
Business Network ID and the CRA business number. The company section of a
submission mirrors the CPSS supplier profile, so the profile has to match the
SAP record on legal name, address and ID before anything else is entered.
No deficiency cycle. The mandatory criteria are one year in business and,
per category claimed, one reference at an outside client that was invoiced for
the work in the last five years. After the quarter closes, PSPC emails each
reference once with three yes-or-no questions. A category passes if the answers
are yes and fails otherwise, silence included. The only paperwork window is two
working days to supply a document if asked (section 9.2). There is no financial
evaluation and no insurance requirement.
What it means. For ProServices the pass rate is the reply rate of the
references. What decides the outcome is choosing references that meet the
tests, giving each a second address, spreading categories across several of
them, and briefing them for the October to December window. The ProServices
explainer and the qualification service page were rewritten the same day.
Source: RFSA E60ZT-180024/C, amendment 013 of 20 July 2026, sections 2.1, 8.1 and 9.2 and the Annex technical criteria M.1 to M.3; CPSS supplier instructions, checked 8 September 2026
Departments face tighter rules on how they buy professional services. For suppliers this means fewer, better-defined competitions rather than more of them.
PSPC introduced ten measures tightening how departments procure professional
services through the mandatory methods of supply. Most came into force on
1 July 2025.
What it means if you sell to departments. The measures push toward
requirements that state objectives rather than list bodies, and toward
engagement through the life of a contract rather than at the award. A firm that
competes on rate cards alone has less to work with; a firm that can describe an
outcome has more.
It also means fewer, larger, better-specified competitions. That is harder to
win and better to win.
Source: PSPC / CanadaBuys, "Strengthened requirements for procurement of professional services"
TBIPS is being narrowed to lower-value, lower-complexity work rather than removed. If your federal revenue is large and complex, the vehicle that carries it is changing.
As part of the same streamlining, PSPC has described a simplified suite of
mandatory methods of supply in which TBIPS and TSPS remain available but are
aimed at low-value, low-complexity, routine services - standardised work with
low risk.
What it means. Qualifying on TBIPS is not becoming pointless; it is becoming
a narrower thing than it was. Whether that is good news depends on where your
revenue sits:
Mostly small, standardised engagements - TBIPS and ProServices still carry
your work, and ProServices is the one departments are directed to below the
trade-agreement threshold.
Larger, more complex engagements - watch what replaces the top end. A firm
that qualifies now for work that is moving elsewhere has bought the wrong
thing.
This is the change most worth watching, and the one with the least clarity so
far. We will keep this entry current rather than writing a second one.
Source: PSPC, professional services methods of supply streamlining