Public Procurement Act, SNS 2011, c 12, s. 1.

The purpose of this Act is to (a) provide for the procurement of goods, services, construction and facilities by public sector entities in a fair, open, consistent and transparent manner resulting in best value; (b) encourage competition, innovative ideas and solutions while respecting trade agreement obligations; (c) promote sustainable procurement in procurement decisions including identifying and exploring opportunities to work with and support social enterprises and businesses that are owned by and who employ underrepresented populations. Under the Act “sustainable procurement” means obtaining best value for public service entities by integrating environmental, economic and social considerations in the procurement process. The Minister shall appoint a Chief Procurement Officer with the following powers and duties: (a) promote and encourage maximum competition amongst suppliers of goods, services, construction and facilities to public sector entities, through outreach programs; (b) require public sector entities to provide reasonable notice and opportunity to respond to public tender notices; (c) promote the use of sustainable procurement criteria in all public sector entity procurement decisions; (d) require public sector entities to include contract and risk-management guidelines in their procurement decisions; (e) require public sector entities to make public procurement training and certification accessible to their public procurement professionals; and (f) identify opportunities and support collaboration leading to greater consistency and efficiencies in the procurement process across the public sector.