The National Master Specification in one paragraph
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) describes the NMS as “the most comprehensive master specification in Canada” and a framework “for writing construction project specifications”. It holds over 100 design master specifications and 750 construction master specifications, in English and in French. The French version is the Devis directeur national, or DDN. A design team does not issue the NMS as it stands: it copies the sections a project needs, deletes what does not apply, adds what is missing and fills in the project’s own products, values and requirements. The result is the project specification that goes to tender.
Who owns it, and who uses it
The NMS is owned by the NRC, which took it over from Public Works and Government Services Canada in 2015. Its full name today is the Canadian National Master Construction Specification. Each section is researched and reviewed by discipline specialists, and the NRC publishes dated updates; the current table of contents is labelled “2026-04 update”.
The NRC says the NMS is “intended for use by the federal government, other public organizations and private sector companies”. Some federal owners use it as a matter of policy: Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Real Property Branch, National Defence and Defence Construction Canada each have a policy of using the NMS for their projects. That is why it shows up on federal buildings, wharves, laboratories and military bases from coast to coast, and why many consulting engineers and architects write in it every week.
It is free to read on the NRC’s website. Publishers such as the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) sell packages and software built on it.
How a section is built
Every NMS section has a number, a title and three parts:
- Part 1, General: scope, related requirements, references, submittals, quality assurance and delivery.
- Part 2, Products: the materials and equipment, with the standards they must meet.
- Part 3, Execution: how the work is installed, tested and cleaned up.
The numbers come from MasterFormat, the numbering system published by Construction Specifications Canada and the Construction Specifications Institute. They read from the division down: in 33 05 16, 33 is the division (utilities), and the section is Maintenance Holes and Catch Basin Structures. Some sections go a level deeper: 31 23 16.26 is Rock Removal. Design-build and performance sections use a different system, UniFormat, with codes like B2010 for Exterior Walls. We explain how the two systems fit together in The National Master Specification and MasterFormat.
What changes when a section goes into French
Because the NMS exists in both languages, most of a French specification is already written. The standard text of 33 05 16 has an official French version, and a translator who rewrites it from scratch only creates differences a reviewer will have to chase. What needs translation is the part your team changed: project-specific products, values, references to drawings and the clauses you added.
That shapes how NMS translation should be done and priced:
- Standard clauses come back in the official French, unchanged. We work from the official English NMS paired sentence by sentence with the official French, so the standard text matches what the NRC publishes.
- Your edits are translated in your terms. The words you added need the same names as your drawings. If the drawings call a structure a regard, the specification cannot call it a trou d’homme.
- The quote follows the text you changed. Sections are matched against the NMS before anyone counts words, so you are not paying to retranslate text that already exists in French.
Section titles matter too. A French table of contents, section headers and drawing references that do not match the official French titles are the first thing a federal reviewer notices. Our list of National Master Specification section titles in English and French gives 794 of them side by side.
Two terms that show why
In NMS section 33 05 16, a catch basin is a bouche d’égout. In section 22 10 10, Plumbing Pumps, a puisard is a sump. A general dictionary may offer either word for either thing. On a tender, the wrong one points a bidder at a different structure, and the question comes back to your engineers during bidding.
That is why we keep a National Master Specification term base of over 15,000 terms, built from the NMS itself and from the projects we have translated in it, over 10 million words so far. Every section we translate draws on it.
Common questions
Is the National Master Specification the same as MasterFormat? No. MasterFormat supplies the numbers and titles; the NMS is the specification text filed under them. CSI puts it plainly: “MasterFormat does not contain specifications or specification templates.”
Is the NMS available in French? Yes. Every section is published in English and French. The French version is the Devis directeur national (DDN).
Do we have to use the NMS? That depends on your client. Several federal owners require it by policy. Other public bodies and private firms use it by choice.
Do we need to translate the whole specification? Usually not. Standard text already exists in French. The part that needs a translator is what your team edited or added, which is what we quote.
Have a specification to translate? Send the package for a quote within one business day, or read how we handle National Master Specification translation.
Sources: National Research Council Canada, NMS overview, FAQ, user’s guide and development guide (nrc.canada.ca); Construction Canada, “NRC now managing the National Master Specification”, 2015; CSI MasterFormat FAQ (csiresources.org). All accessed November 3, 2026.