On November 12, 2020, Public Services and Procurement Canada
(PSPC) published a new Contract Security Manual (CSM) that details the
security standards, procedures and international commitments that
private sector organizations must adhere to when bidding and
working on sensitive Government of Canada contracts.
The CSM sets out the requirements applicable to private sector
organizations registered with the PSPC's Contract Security
Program (CSP). Organizations that are awarded a federal contract
with security requirements, or that otherwise have a legitimate
need to access sensitive government information, must be registered
with CSP and comply with the CSM.
For the most part, the CSM purports to be a rewrite of the
previously issued Industrial Security Manual (ISM), and is intended
to be a more concise and understandable version of the manual in
response to feedback from industry and other stakeholders. However,
there are some notable changes. In particular, the CSM
