How do you rough in lighting for drop ceilings?
Not an electrician.
My first thought would be to do the rough in by putting an electrical box on the actual ceiling.  In this box wire your conventional wire to a short length of romex.  The romex then is wired to your fixture when you hang the drop ceiling.
I don't think conduit would be required for the supply to these boxes, but it's not covered in my &quot;Alberta Electrical Code Simplified&quot; Doing a quick google finds that NM is fine for above suspended ceilings.  What is frowned upon is running the wire just on top of the support tracks.
My thought is that romex is more tolerant of being bent, and since you can't guarantee it be secured within 1 foot of the fixture, whatever you put in should tolerate bending.
I also know that when fiddling around with hanging ceiling you bump tiles into things.