Acceptance criteria

Acceptance criteria are the specific conditions a deliverable must satisfy before the buyer formally accepts it. In a Canadian public-sector contract, acceptance is the buyer's formal confirmation that the work or deliverable conforms to the contract — and it is the gate that normally triggers payment and lets the contract move toward close-out.

Where acceptance criteria come from

Acceptance criteria are set in the contract documents, anchored in the statement of work (SOW). Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) guidance for buyers on reviewing a statement of work requires that "the deliverables are precisely defined, including any specific products, services, or outcomes," so that every offeror understands exactly what will be judged. The acceptance section of the resulting contract then states what conformity means for each deliverable: measurable technical requirements, documentation, quality thresholds, and review or testing steps.

What federal solicitation documents actually say

The mechanism is visible in real federal tenders posted on CanadaBuys. A 2025 request for proposal issued by Shared Services Canada's certification body (SCC RFP 2025-04) states in its general conditions, clause 7.3 "Acceptance": "Deliverables shall be subject to acceptance, as specifically set forth in the SOW. Unless otherwise set forth in the SOW, the acceptance criteria for non-software Deliverables shall include a requirement that the Deliverable has been completed in accordance with the good workmanship required hereunder to the reasonable satisfaction" of Canada. The same family of standard clauses provides that no supplies are accepted or paid for that do not conform in all respects to the requirements of the specifications, drawings or samples. In other words: if the SOW does not spell out custom criteria, a workmanship-and-reasonable-satisfaction default applies.

What it means for suppliers

Acceptance is a payment gate: PSPC's close-out guidance states a contract is fully completed only when "the client has accepted the deliverables and the invoice has been paid according to the contract price and basis of payment." Practically, that means a supplier should treat the acceptance criteria as the real specification — map each deliverable to its criteria before submitting, respond to acceptance review comments through the contract's formal channels, and never treat "delivered" as "accepted." Deliverables that fail acceptance stay unresolved items on the contract file and block final payment and close-out.

Common questions

Are acceptance criteria the same as evaluation criteria?

No, and confusing them is a common bidding mistake. Evaluation criteria are published in the solicitation and used to score bids before award — mandatory criteria screen offers and rated criteria rank them. Acceptance criteria judge the delivered work after contract award, under the contract's acceptance clause. You cannot bargain acceptance criteria during the bid stage any more than you can pre-negotiate the evaluation; they flow from the requirement the buyer defined.

What happens if a deliverable fails acceptance?

The buyer can reject the non-conforming deliverable and require correction at the contractor's cost, and under standard general conditions non-conforming supplies are not accepted or paid for. Repeated failure can escalate to remedies like a default or termination claim. That is why suppliers should raise ambiguous or unmeasurable acceptance criteria during the question-and-answer period of the solicitation — after award, the criteria as written control.

Related definitions

Acceptance testing · Contract close-out · Evaluation criteria weighting · Progress payment