E. MATCH GUARANTEE
Canonical document identifier: CSM-MATCH-GUARANTEE
Version: 1.0.0
Effective / approval date: September 18, 2026
Launch scope: Canada excluding Quebec — Soft Launch 0.1
Status: LOCKED / APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Canadian Source Match Match Guarantee
What CSM guarantees
CSM will not knowingly pad a standardized Report with candidates that fail CSM's qualification standard merely to reach a package maximum.
We adjust the research rather than pad the report.
If CSM determines before payment that the authorized standardized package cannot truthfully be supported, CSM will adjust the Request to the highest standardized package that can truthfully deliver a useful CSM research result.
If no paid standardized product remains supportable:
Amount due for the standardized research: $0.
What the Guarantee does not guarantee
The Match Guarantee does not guarantee:
- a fixed minimum supplier count;
- Canadian manufacturing;
- non-U.S. manufacturing;
- supplier response;
- inventory;
- a particular price;
- MOQ;
- lead time;
- certification;
- regulatory approval;
- product performance;
- cost savings;
- successful procurement.
After payment
If a material CSM error means the paid standardized package was not supportable when released, CSM may first correct and reissue the Report where correction preserves the purchased product.
If correction cannot preserve the purchased product, CSM will provide the applicable downgrade refund or full Guarantee refund.
Monetary-remedy relationship
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, monetary Match Guarantee remedies count toward the same Request Fee Cap and do not automatically stack above that cap.
F. REFUND & CANCELLATION PROVISIONS
Canonical document identifier: CSM-REFUND-CANCELLATION
Version: 1.0.0
Effective / approval date: September 18, 2026
Launch scope: Canada excluding Quebec — Soft Launch 0.1
Status: LOCKED / APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Before payment
No standardized research fee is charged when the Request is first authorized.
Customer may ask CSM to stop an unpaid standardized Request.
CSM may stop the research and close the Request.
CSM does not impose a retroactive hourly cancellation fee on ordinary standardized work.
If a completed Report remains unpaid, it remains securely locked.
Authorization alone does not create an ordinary CSM debt-collection claim for the completed standardized Report.
After payment
An adjustment or refund may arise from:
- Match Guarantee;
- duplicate payment;
- processing error;
- an uncured material CSM error preventing delivery of the purchased standardized product;
- a remedy required by applicable law.
Customer is not automatically entitled to a refund because:
- fewer candidates were supportable than the package maximum;
- Customer disagrees with an evidence-supported conclusion;
- the desired manufacturing origin does not exist;
- a supplier later changes price or inventory;
- a supplier later declines Customer;
- Customer changes the Request after research.
G. SAME-REQUEST UPGRADE CREDIT POLICY
Canonical document identifier: CSM-UPGRADE-CREDIT
Version: 1.0.0
Effective / approval date: September 18, 2026
Launch scope: Canada excluding Quebec — Soft Launch 0.1
Status: LOCKED / APPROVED FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Same-Request Upgrade Credit applies automatically only among:
- Essential;
- Standard;
- Expanded.
It does not automatically apply to Strategic / Enterprise.
Under current standardized prices:
- Essential → Standard: $200
- Essential → Expanded: $600
- Standard → Expanded: $400
Credit applies only where the later work remains materially the same underlying Request and CSM determines prior research remains reusable.
A material change in:
- product/application;
- Must Meet requirements;
- geography;
- certification;
- manufacturing-origin requirement;
- specification tolerance;
- end use
may require new scope or a new Request.
The applicable Upgrade Credit expiry date will be the expiry recorded for the original transaction under the then-current Upgrade Policy.
Upgrade Credit:
- is not cash;
- is not transferable;
- is not a general account balance;
- applies only to eligible same-Request standardized work;
- does not automatically carry into Strategic / Enterprise.
Prior standardized research may reduce a Strategic quote where reusable, without creating an automatic dollar-for-dollar credit.