The issue is that if you're external to government, those evaluators are actively signing new conflict of interest declarations so it's top of mind right before conducting an evaluation. That same process isn't true if you're a member or an employee of the Department of National Defence. As a result, we wanted it to be top of mind for all evaluators. On those procurements where you're not doing a blind evaluation and you actually know who the bidders ultimately are, you need to be mindful of the fact that conflict is at the top of the priorities in terms of having an effective and fair evaluation process.
On October 24th, 2023. See this statement in context.