Defence Construction Canada (DCC) is inviting contractors and suppliers to apply to be placed on an Open Construction Source List (OCSL) for commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, and civil work required by the Department of National Defence, at CFB Borden (and its satellite sites in Meaford, Owen Sound, and Barrie) for three fiscal years (April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2029). Interested contractors and suppliers may request to be placed on the OCSL at any time. However, DCC is requesting that interested contractors and suppliers submit a request to be placed the OCSL as soon as possible, preferably by March 4, 2026. DCC will require ten (10) business days to process an application for the OCSL. Contractors and suppliers that want to be added to the OCSL, must submit a request through this MERX posting and therein indicate their preferred official language (English or French). IMPORTANT: Contractors and suppliers that were placed on the previous OCSL (April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2026) must re-apply to be placed on the OCSL for April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2029. The language selected by the applicant for this OCSL will be the only language used for the tender documents, the contract documents and communication for all future tenders and during the execution of any resulting contract. The language selected will apply for the duration of the OCSL. Faxed, mailed, or emailed submissions will not be accepted. The OCSL will be used to tender construction services (commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, civil) with an estimated value of $10 million and below. As "Opportunities to bid" arise, DCC will invite all contractors and suppliers on the OCSL to bid on the work. Contractors and suppliers will be invited electronically through MERX and may, at the discretion of DCC, be required to attend a site meeting prior to a tender closing. Tenders will close electronically through MERX. Contractors and suppliers who apply to be placed on the OCSL will require an active MERX account to submit electronic bids. Please contact MERX for information on how to open or reactivate an account. To bid on a tender call, a bidder must be registered on the OCSL used for the tender call. If the bidder's legal name does not appear on the OCSL, DCC may consider their bid to be non-compliant. If you change your business name, it is therefore very important that you notify DCC and consider making the change to your MERX account. DCC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to: Continue using existing source lists that may already be in place for similar or related services such as existing Quick Response Tender (QRT) source lists, Establish other source lists for specific categories of construction services which may require different pre-qualification requirements, such as Quick Response Tender (QRT) source lists. Such other source lists will not be advertised through this OCSL. Such other source lists will be advertised openly on MERX on a case-by-case basis, Verify which contractors have submitted bids under the OCSL, verify if those that did not submit bids are still interested to be on the OCSL and remove from the OCSL those contractors that are no longer interested, Require additional pre-qualification requirements for any specific tenders done through the OCSL, Elect to post any tender openly on MERX in lieu of this OCSL if DCC deems that an open tender would provide the potential for more competition, Tenders may be set aside for Indigenous businesses in accordance with the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (PSIB). In such cases, all contractors and suppliers on the Open Construction Source List (OCSL) will receive an invitation to bid; however, the MERX advertisement will clearly state that the opportunity is reserved for Indigenous businesses under PSIB. To qualify, the Indigenous business must be registered in Indigenous Services Canada’s (ISC) Indigenous Business Directory (IBD). If you are forming a Joint Venture (JV) to bid on a contract set aside for Indigenous businesses, at least one member of the JV must be listed on the OCSL, and the Indigenous business within the JV must also be registered in ISC’s Indigenous Business Directory. Failure to meet these requirements will result in the bid being deemed non-compliant, Include a requirement for sub-contracting to Indigenous businesses that must be registered under Indigenous Services Canada’s (ISC) Indigenous Business Directory. In this case, the MERX Ad specific to the invitation will clearly identify the inclusion of an Indigenous Benefits Plan (IBP). Contractors are advised that contracts awarded by DCC include measurable performance standards and requirements as detailed in form DCL81-Performance Evaluation Guidelines which is available at https://www.dcc-cdc.gc.ca/industry/forms. A contractor that receives an unacceptable or failing score may be removed from this OCSL and receive no further invitations under the OCSL. Contractors and suppliers are advised that all contracts tendered and awarded by DCC are subject to DCC’s Procurement Code of Conduct which is available for download at https://www.dcc-cdc.gc.ca/industry/forms. A contractor or a supplier that has been declared ineligible or has been suspended by Public Services and Procurement Canada under its Ineligibility and Suspension Policy and the period of ineligibility or suspension has not expired may be removed from this OCSL and received no further invitations. Contractors and suppliers are advised that DCC’s Standard Construction Contract Documents - Electronic Bidding (DCL250) will be used for opportunities under the OCSL and can be downloaded from the DCC website at: https://www.dcc-cdc.gc.ca/industry/forms. Contractors and suppliers are advised that tenders and contracts under this OCSL may contain organization and personnel security requirements. Typically, the organization security requirement will be Designated Organization Screening (DOS) and reliability status for personnel. However more stringent requirement may apply such as Facility Security Clearance (FSC) at the level of SECRET with approved Document Safeguarding (DSC) with secret clearance for personnel. DCC may publish Advance Procurement Notices (APN) identifying potential tenders with anticipated security requirements to provide interested contractors an opportunity to begin the sponsorship request process for potentially obtaining the required security clearance(s) that are anticipated. The process to apply for a security clearance is provided in the APNs. DCC reserves the right to reject any application that does not demonstrate, to the sole satisfaction of DCC, that the contractor or supplier has met the stated requirements. DCC also reserves the right to request clarifications and/or confirmations from any or all firms regarding any aspect of their submission information. A written response to each such communication is required from the firm. By submitting a response to this invitation, contractors and suppliers are providing their consent, pursuant to section 30 of the Defence Production Act, for DCC to publicly disclose, after closing, their legal name, address and whether they have been included on the OCSL. The OCSL may be used for procurements covered by trade agreements to which Canada is a party. You have questions regarding the foregoing, or you wish to be removed from an OCSL, please contact: Defence Construction Canada André Champagne Andre.Champagne@dcc-cdc.gc.caBidding and Documents are available on http://www.merx.com. Fees may apply; See https://www.merx.com/public/pricing for more information.
