Finding tender opportunities with Canadian provinces and territories

For those looking to sell to the Government of Alberta, the majority of their procurement is managed by Procurement Services. Contract opportunities are posted on their electronic tendering system, Alberta Purchasing Connection (APC) and suppliers can use 1GX (One Government Experience) to bid, receive orders, invoice, and receive payment for opportunities listed on APC.

Suppliers should obtain solicitation documents from APC or 1GX to ensure that they receive any updates in a timely manner. If an opportunity notice contains a link to 1GX, suppliers will need to be registered (at no cost) in Ariba Discovery to view and download the full solicitation documents.

Instructions for submitting a bid are provided in the solicitation notice. The response date, time and location will be indicated within the solicitation document. All responses must be received on or before the closing date and time, at the location indicated within the solicitation document, or the response will be rejected.

After evaluating bids, Procurement Services will issue a contract to the successful supplier. The name of the successful supplier, award date, and the contracted prices will be available on the Alberta Purchasing Connection following the contract award.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Alberta

Each year, the province of British Columbia spends over $7 billion procuring a wide variety of goods and services. Contract opportunities with the Government of British Columbia are posted on BC Bid, where more than 700 provincial public sector organizations publish opportunity notices and distribute tender documents

Procuring entities participate in an evaluation process, unless the goods, services or construction are being obtained under an existing supply arrangement. Vendor selection is done based on the evaluation criteria disclosed in the solicitation document. Rationale for vendor ranking is documented and vendors are informed in writing of their ranking once the evaluation phase is complete.

The province also offers a Procurement Concierge Program that helps public sector buyers connect with vendors. The service promises to help vendors find opportunities to connect with Public Sector Buyers during the pre-market engagement process, share their innovative solutions, respond to requests for information and participate in Discovery Day sessions.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of British Columbia

Purchases by the Government of Manitoba are usually handled by the province’s Procurement and Supply Chain and individual departments. Manitoba will electronically tender goods valued at more than $2,500 and most services greater than $75,000.

All tenders over Trade Agreements thresholds are advertised and distributed by MERX, an electronic tendering service, on Manitoba’s behalf.  Bids, proposals, or quotations are not to be returned to MERX. Instead, RFQ/RFP documents indicate where the document is to be returned and the closing date and time.

Award of the order varies with each commodity and the overall complexity of the items or service required. They are generally issued within 2 to 3 weeks from the date of the tender closing in the form of a Purchase Order or Outline Agreement. This can be extended if additional evaluation or approvals are required. If the RFQ/RFP was issued on MERX the results of the RFQ/RFP will also be posted on MERX once the order/contract has been issued.  Bidders are requested to log onto the MERX web site to obtain award information.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Manitoba

Strategic Procurement, a division of Service New Brunswick, manages the procurement process for the purchase of goods, services and construction services above certain threshold values for departments, agencies, school districts and regional health authorities. Over the past few years, the agency has purchased over $1.5B annually of good and services like office supplies, heavy equipment, IT services, consulting services, furniture, medical equipment and clinical supplies, on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick.

All public solicitations for the government and public sector entities in New Brunswick are advertised on their e-tendering system, the New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON). Potential vendors must be registered with NBON (free of charge) to have access to bidding opportunities issued by the Government of New Brunswick and other public sector entities.

The bidding process varies depending on the procuring entity. The solicitation document will describe the goods, services or construction services to be purchased, conditions and requirements and instructions on how, when and where to submit bids. Some opportunities are awarded based on price, while others are awarded based on the evaluation criteria specified in the solicitation documents. Only bid submissions that meet all mandatory criteria will be evaluated.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of New Brunswick

The Public Procurement Agency is the central procurement unit of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, with the responsibility for managing the procurement process on behalf of all government departments. The Agency advertises tdners and resulting awards relating to commodities under the Public Procurement Act and are made available free of charge through the MERX website. Individual agencies, cities and towns also post their tenders on their individual websites. This page provides a full listing of sites.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

The procurement process of the Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT) ranges from direct award contracts (sole source) to a multi-stage process that involves information gathering, pre-qualification and solicitation activities.

For goods under $25,000, contract authorities can procure the goods on their own or submit a requisition to Procurement Shared Services. For goods $25,000 and over, a formal public competitive procurement is required, unless approved as sole source.

For services under $10,000, contract authorities can procure the services on their own or submit a requisition to Procurement Shared Services. Services between $10,000 and $25,000 don’t require a formal public competitive procurement process but obtaining two (2) quotes is recommended. For services $25,000 and over, a formal public competitive procurement is required (unless approved as sole source). Professional services and architectural and engineering services have their own thresholds and requirements that are worth noting.

Opportunities with Government of Northwest Territories are posted on the GNWT Contract Event Opportunities website. The site that allows vendors to download and bid on contracting opportunities online and sign up for notifications of new contracting opportunities. Opportunities are also advertised in newspapers and all regional tender opening locations and the band, hamlet or settlement office where the work will be done. Posting locally is also done on invitational and web tenders to ensure small local contractors become aware of potential work in the community.

The GNWT’s Procurement Shared Services Division regularly delivers training sessions about Government of the Northwest Territories procurement. These training sessions provide information such as contracting with the GNWT, how to navigate Procurement Events using the GNWT Contract Event Opportunities Website, and how to fill in Procurement-related Business Incentive Policy forms.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Northwest Territories

The Government of Nova Scotia advertises most of its tenders on Nova Scotia Tender Notices which are open to all suppliers. Each tender is posted for a minimum of 15 days, but the posting may be longer depending on the complexity of the tender.

Bids are evaluated on purchase price and lifecycle cost, but also environmental considerations, social considerations, delivery, servicing and the capacity of the bidder to meet other criteria as stated in the tender documents. After bids are evaluated, the successful supplier is notified and a contract is awarded.

For purchases under $2,500, government and public sector entities need to use an existing standing offer. If a standing offer doesn’t exist, they can approach a business directly. For purchases between $2,500 and $9,999, government and public sector entities need to use an existing standing offer. If a standing offer doesn’t exist, they need to get competitive quotes from 3 or more suppliers that can provide the goods or services they need.

For purchases $10,000 and over, government and public sector entities need to use an existing standing offer and if one doesn’t exist, they need to use an invitational competition or an open competition depending on the value of the contract. If the value of goods is between $10,000 and $30,299 there’s an invitational competition. There’s also an invitational competition if the value of services or construction is between $10,000 to $121,199. An invitational competition is when Procurement issues an invitation to submit a bid to at least 3 suppliers.

The Government of Nova Scotia does use alternative procurement practices in urgent, specialized or exceptional circumstances.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Nova Scotia

The Government of Nunavut (GN) is one of the largest buyers of goods and services in Nunavut and has a wide range of needs from goods such as signage, office supplies, tools and ATVs to services such as snow removal, catering, janitorial and interpreting services.

The GN has a policy based on obligations in the Nunavut Agreement to encourage greater participation from Inuit Firms and Nunavut businesses in procurement opportunities. The Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunik Ikajuuti (NNI policy) is applied to all procurement methods including those with lower contract values. It allows for request for tenders (RFTs) and request for proposals (RFPs) to be offered exclusively to Inuit and Nunavut based firms if there are at least three firms capable of doing the work, reduce bid prices from Inuit firms through bid adjustments and require mandatory Inuit labour level or proposals.

The Government of Nunavut has a procurement website called Nunavut Tenders to advertise public solicitations of RFTs and RFPs. They also advertise some solicitations in northern newspapers. Users can also subscribe for email notifications about tender opportunities.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Nunavut

As a vendor, you can sell goods and services to the Ontario Public Service. The Ontario government issues requests for bids and invitations to quote to procure goods and services using an open competitive opportunities posted on the Ontario Tenders Portal. The Ministry of Transportation uses Registry, Appraisal and Qualification System (RAQS) to advertise large capital construction projects.

All procurements over $25,000 require bidders to:

• undergo contractor tax compliance verification to ensure their tax obligations are in good standing
• supply a 9-digit Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) number
• potentially go through a security screening

The bidding process is handled via the Ontario Tenders Portal which is free to use. Bids are usually evaluated by a team of ministry staff, which could include procurement officers and potential users of the goods and services required. Contract awards are reviewed and approved by one or more senior officers depending on the ministry.

Successful bidders will be notified to execute the contract award and award notifications are published in the same manner they were advertised and using the same medium as original request, such as the Ontario Tenders Portal.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Ontario

Each year, the Government of PEI purchases over $100 million of goods and services from the private sector in accordance with its’s Procurement of Goods Act and the Procurement of Goods Regulations. A provincial tender may include PEI municipalities, academic institutions, school boards, and Health PEI and any individual, company or organization with the ability to supply the required goods or services can compete for the business through the public tendering process. 

Provincial government departments are asked to follow a standard method for procurement with dollar limitations as follows:

Goods for Schedule A entities (see list in Procurement of Goods Regulations)

• $0 – $4,999: Departments can procure directly, or through a public or invited competitive process.
• $5,000 – $9,999: Requires two or three written quotes, or a public or invited competitive process.
• $10,000 – Lowest applicable trade agreement threshold: Requires a public competitive process – or an invited competitive bidding process, limited to local suppliers.
• Lowest applicable trade agreement threshold and over: Requires a Public Tender (Contact Procurement Services to determine current threshold).

Goods for Schedule B entities (see list in Procurement of Goods Regulations)

• $0 – $249,999: Entities can procure directly, or through a public or invited competitive process.
• $250,000 – Lowest applicable trade agreement threshold: Requires a public competitive process – or an invited competitive bidding process, limited to local suppliers.
• Lowest applicable trade agreement threshold and over: Requires a Public Tender (Contact Procurement Services to determine current threshold).

Services (Applicable to both Schedule A and Schedule B entities)

• Less than $50,000: Three written quotations are recommended. Contract is issued by the department.
• Over $50,000: A formal Request for Proposal (RFP) is required. The contract is issued by the department (Treasury Board approval to award the contract is required if the value exceeds $100,000).

Construction

• Over $100,000: A formal RFP must be publicly advertised

Tenders opened for bidding can be found on the provinces Tenders web page. You are advised to carefully review the tender posting and your completed tender documents before submitting them to ensure the specifications and compliance requirements are addressed. Tender packages will be time and date stamped to show the time and date received and placed in a locked repository until the date of tender closing. Tender documents received after the stated deadline will not be accepted.

After the tender closing date, all tender submissions will be unsealed and the name and submitted price of each bidder will be announced. Once tenders are opened, they are evaluated for compliance and unqualified tenders will be rejected. Once tenders are awarded, winning bidders are posted on the Tenders web page.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of PEI

Tender documents and notices from ministries and public agencies, health and social services organizations, education network organizations and Quebec municipalities, are published on the Système électronique d’appel d’offres (SEAO).

One organization in the province to be aware of is the Autorité de marchés publics (AMP), a neutral and independent authority created to oversee and monitor public contracts in Quebec. It is responsible for granting, renewing, and revoking authorizations for contracting with public agencies and departments in Quebec.

Any enterprise involved in a contract or subcontract tendering or awarding process with one of the levels of the government of Québec which involves an expenditure above certain thresholds must apply for an Authorization from the AMP. The thresholds are:

• $5 million for construction contracts and subcontracts or public-private partnership (PPP) agreements;
• $1 million for service contracts and subcontracts entered into pursuant to a call for tenders or by mutual agreement.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Quebec

SaskTenders is the primary gateway for public sector tender notices for Saskatchewan. This portal is managed by SaskBuilds the government’s Single Procurement Service which advises on and conducts procurements for all ministries across government in a way that ensures best value for taxpayers and fair treatment for Saskatchewan suppliers.

The organization provides many courses and information resources on how to sell to the Government of Saskatchewan including one that covers procurement principles, processes, bid evaluation, bid responses, best and final offers, scoring and best practices.

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Saskatchewan

The Government of Yukon tenders are posted on their e-procurement site called Yukon bids&tenders. You are required to register before your can view any tenders without the “preview” watermark. The tender document will provide criteria and the name of the project manager who can be contacted through the Yukon bids&tenders. The government no longer accepts paper-based submissions and hard copies of tender documents will no longer be distributed. 

The tender document will indicate how, when and where to submit bids. Successful bidder are notified by email and award notifications are posted on Yukon bids&tenders site. 

Learn more about doing business with the Government of Yukon