Guides
Straight answers about government tenders.
The questions contractors ask me most, answered plainly: where public work is posted in Canada and the US, how each portal works, and how to stop missing bids. Every guide lists the official sources its facts were checked against.
Canada: federal
How do I bid on federal contracts on CanadaBuys?
Find the tender notice on CanadaBuys, then submit your bid exactly the way that notice says: Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) tenders are answered online in SAP Business Network, other federal departments attach their solicitation documents to the notice, and some solicitations name another method such as a bid receiving unit or Canada Post's Connect service. For PSPC tenders, first register a free SAP Business Network account and complete the Government of Canada questionnaire. Then read the whole solicitation, send questions to the contracting officer before the question deadline, watch for amendments and meet every mandatory requirement before closing.
Read the full answerWhat is the difference between a standing offer and a supply arrangement?
A standing offer is a supplier's offer to provide defined goods or services at pre-arranged prices and terms, and the government orders against it with call-ups, each of which becomes a separate contract. A supply arrangement pre-qualifies a pool of suppliers under set terms, and departments then compete or negotiate each specific requirement among those suppliers before awarding a contract. Neither is a contract on its own, and in both cases you generally need to be qualified before the work is handed out.
Read the full answerHow do I get a federal security clearance to bid on government contracts in Canada?
You cannot apply for a federal security clearance on your own. Organizations are screened by Public Services and Procurement Canada's Contract Security Program (CSP) only when an approved source, usually the federal procurement officer, sponsors them because they bid on or won a contract with security requirements. In practice you bid on a solicitation with security requirements, include a completed Application for registration (AFR) form with your proposal, and the CSP screens your organization (a Designated Organization Screening or a Facility Security Clearance) and the people who need access.
Read the full answerCanada: provinces
Where are Ontario government and municipal tenders posted?
Ontario government ministries post their open competitive procurements on the Ontario Tenders Portal, which Supply Ontario runs on JAGGAER's eTendering platform and which vendors can view, download from and register on at no cost. Municipalities, school boards, hospitals, colleges and universities each choose their own electronic tendering system, so their tenders are spread across platforms such as bids&tenders, Biddingo, MERX, Bonfire and their own websites. Federal government work in Ontario is published separately on CanadaBuys.
Read the full answerWhere are BC government contracts posted, and how does BC Bid work?
B.C. government contracts are posted on BC Bid (bcbid.gov.bc.ca), the province's online marketplace where the B.C. government, Crown corporations, health authorities, school districts and municipalities advertise opportunities. Anyone can browse opportunities, contract awards and unverified bid results without logging in, but you need a free supplier account, set up with a Business BCeID, to work on submissions, and paid annual subscriptions to receive opportunity notifications or submit e-bids. Some B.C. public bodies also run their own bidding systems, so check each buyer's own bid page as well.
Read the full answerHow do I find Quebec public tenders on SEAO?
Quebec public tenders are published on SEAO (seao.gouv.qc.ca), the Système électronique d'appel d'offres, which gathers notices from ministries and public bodies, Santé Québec and its institutions, the education network and Quebec municipalities. Public bodies covered by the Act respecting contracts by public bodies, and municipalities, must announce public calls for tenders through a SEAO notice, and the tender documents can only be obtained through SEAO. Reading notices is free, while ordering tender documents, electronic bid submission and subscription services carry fees published in SEAO's own fee schedule.
Read the full answerWhere are Alberta government tenders posted?
Alberta government tenders are posted on Alberta Purchasing Connection (APC) at purchasing.alberta.ca, the Government of Alberta's electronic tendering site, where public sector entities such as municipalities, school boards and health entities also post purchasing opportunities. Anyone can browse postings, but you need an APC Supplier account linked to your business to download documents, express interest and receive updates. Some postings link out to another system, such as SAP Ariba, for the full documents and bidding, so read each posting's instructions.
Read the full answerWhere are Manitoba government tenders posted?
Manitoba government tenders are posted on MERX, the electronic tendering service the province uses for tenders above trade agreement thresholds, with a Manitoba section at merx.com/mbgov. Many other Manitoba public buyers, including the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Hydro, Manitoba Public Insurance and school divisions, also post there, though some, such as the University of Manitoba, take bids through their own portal. The province does not keep supplier source lists, so watching MERX is how you see provincial work.
Read the full answerWhere are Saskatchewan government tenders posted?
Saskatchewan public sector tenders are posted on SaskTenders at sasktenders.ca, which the province calls the primary gateway for public sector tender notices and where provincial ministries, Crown corporations, health, school and municipal organizations post competitions. Anyone can browse as a guest, but you need a free SaskTenders account to download documents and receive email alerts, and Executive Government competitions also require registration in the province's GEM Supplier Portal to bid. Some buyers, such as SaskPower and the City of Saskatoon, also use a second platform for documents and bidding.
Read the full answerWhere are Nova Scotia government tenders posted?
Nova Scotia government tenders are posted on the province's procurement portal, the NS Procurement Portal at procurement-portal.novascotia.ca, where the Government of Nova Scotia and public sector entities such as municipalities, universities, regional centres for education and health authorities advertise opportunities. Suppliers can sign up for free daily email alerts through the Tender Opportunities Notification Service (TONS) using a My NS Account. Some opportunities also run through other systems, such as SAP Ariba for e-bidding or Halifax's own bids&tenders site, so read each notice's instructions.
Read the full answerWhere are New Brunswick government tenders posted?
New Brunswick government tenders are posted on the New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON), the web-based e-tendering system run by Service New Brunswick, where the province advertises public solicitations for goods, services and construction for departments, agencies, school districts, regional health authorities and other public sector bodies. Registration is free, and suppliers must be registered with NBON to access bidding opportunities. Some buyers, such as the City of Moncton and NB Power, also run their own bidding portals, and federal work in New Brunswick is posted separately on CanadaBuys.
Read the full answerWhere are Prince Edward Island government tenders posted?
Prince Edward Island government tenders are listed on the province's Search for Tenders and Procurement Opportunities page at princeedwardisland.ca, which covers provincial departments, Crown agencies and many other Island organizations, and the province says all provincial PEI tenders are currently also advertised on CanadaBuys. Electronic bids for many provincial tenders go through Euna Procurement (formerly Bonfire), where you register to download documents and receive addenda. Health PEI, the City of Charlottetown and the City of Summerside also run their own tender pages, so one search does not cover the whole Island.
Read the full answerWhere are Newfoundland and Labrador government tenders posted?
Newfoundland and Labrador government open calls for bids are hosted on the MERX e-procurement platform at merx.com/govnl, which the Public Procurement Agency says is free to use, and since May 3, 2021 bids for those calls are accepted only through MERX e-bidding. Many other public bodies covered by the Public Procurement Act, including NL Health Services, NLSchools, Memorial University and several Crown corporations, post on their own MERX pages, while others such as the City of St. John's use their own bidding sites. Notices covered by trade agreements also appear on the federal CanadaBuys site.
Read the full answerWhere are Yukon government tenders posted?
Government of Yukon tenders are posted on the Government of Yukon Bid Opportunities Website at yukon.bidsandtenders.ca, which runs on the bids&tenders platform. You can create a free vendor account there, choose commodity codes to get email notices of matching bids, and register for a specific bid to download its secured documents. The City of Whitehorse posts separately on its own Bonfire procurement portal, and federal work in the Yukon is on CanadaBuys.
Read the full answerWhere are Northwest Territories government tenders posted?
Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) tenders and proposals are posted on the GNWT Contract Event Opportunities website at contracts.fin.gov.nt.ca, run by the Department of Finance. Registering as a bidder is free, and it lets you download documents, bid online and receive email notifications for the categories you choose. The City of Yellowknife posts on its own bids&tenders portal, and federal work in the territory is published on CanadaBuys.
Read the full answerWhere are Nunavut government tenders posted?
Government of Nunavut tenders and RFPs are posted on the Nunavut Tenders site at nunavuttenders.ca, where you register on each tender to download documents and receive addenda notices, and where territorial corporations such as Qulliq Energy Corporation and the Nunavut Housing Corporation also list solicitations. Government of Nunavut procurement is subject to the NNI Regulations (Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunik Ikajuuti), which give bid adjustments to Inuit Firms and registered Nunavut Businesses. The City of Iqaluit posts its own tenders on its website and takes bids through MERX or email, and federal tenders covered by trade agreements appear on CanadaBuys, with federal contracts in the Nunavut Settlement Area subject to a separate Treasury Board directive for Inuit firms.
Read the full answerCanada: municipal portals and platforms
What is the difference between MERX and CanadaBuys?
CanadaBuys is the Government of Canada's official source for federal tender and award notices, run by Public Services and Procurement Canada. MERX is a privately run tendering service, not a government site, that many public buyers use to post their tenders, including the governments of Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador as well as municipal, academic and health organizations. Which one you need depends on where your target buyers publish, and suppliers who sell to several levels of government often need both.
Read the full answerHow do I get on a city's vendor list in Canada?
Most large Canadian cities do not keep one vendor list you can join and then wait for work. Open competitions are posted on the city's bidding platform, where you register an account and bid, while lower-value work goes out as invitational quotes to suppliers the city already knows, through supplier registries, prequalified lists or standing offers. So the practical answer is to register on the city's bidding platform, register in any supplier database the city runs, and answer prequalification and standing offer calls when they are posted.
Read the full answerHow do I find and respond to bids on Bonfire?
Bonfire is an e-procurement platform, now part of Euna Procurement, where each public organization runs its own portal listing its open opportunities. You create a free vendor account through an organization's portal, download the documents from the opportunity page, upload your files and click Submit and Finalize before the closing time, and Euna says there is no cost to register or to submit. Addenda are posted under Supporting Documentation and buyer updates under Public Notices, so check both before you finalize.
Read the full answerHow does bids&tenders work for suppliers?
bids&tenders is an e-procurement platform that municipalities, school boards and other public bodies in Canada and the US use to post bids and receive online submissions, usually through each agency's own bids&tenders site. You create one supplier account, register as a plan taker on each bid you want, download the documents, complete the online submission steps and acknowledge every addendum before you submit. A free account lets you browse opportunities, preview documents and bid at free agencies, while bids from subscription-required agencies need a paid subscription or a one-time pay-per-bid fee, according to bids&tenders' own help centre.
Read the full answerHow do I find bids on Biddingo?
Biddingo is a Canadian online bid portal where public buyers such as municipalities, school boards, Crown corporations, housing and healthcare organizations post solicitations, often on their own page at an address like biddingo.com/agencyname. To find bids, open the agency's Biddingo page and search its list of solicitations by keyword, date or status, then register and log in to download the documents, which adds you to the document takers list so amendments reach you. Registration on an agency's vendor portal can be free, as the City of Yorkton's guide states, while Biddingo's own supplier pages describe paid subscription and per-bid options for its wider service.
Read the full answerBidding, step by step
How do I stop missing tender addenda and amendments?
Register for each tender on the platform where its documents actually live, as a plan taker, document taker or event participant, because that registration is what most portals use to send addenda notices. Then make sure those emails reach a monitored inbox, check the opportunity page yourself in the final days before closing, and acknowledge every addendum in the form the buyer asks for. Buyers generally treat tracking addenda as the bidder's job, and some, such as the Township of Muskoka Lakes, state outright that they will not notify you.
Read the full answerHow do I read a government RFP?
Read the evaluation section first, because it tells you the mandatory pass or fail requirements, how points are awarded and how price decides the winner. Then read the instructions, closing and question deadlines, required forms and certifications, and the contract terms, and decide whether you can meet every mandatory requirement before you write anything. Official guidance points to the same avoidable reasons bids are rejected: a missed mandatory requirement, a missing signature or certification, or a late submission.
Read the full answerHow do I find out who won a government contract in Canada?
For federal contracts, search the Award notices and Contract History tabs on CanadaBuys, then the Government of Canada's searchable list of contracts over $10,000. For provincial, municipal and broader public sector work, check the award or results section of the portal where the tender was posted, such as BC Bid, Alberta Purchasing Connection, the Ontario Tenders Portal or SEAO, or the buyer's own bid results page and council reports. If you bid, ask the buyer for a debriefing, and if the record is not published, an access to information request is the last resort.
Read the full answerUnited States
How do small businesses find government contracts in the US?
Small businesses find US federal contracts mainly on SAM.gov, where federal contracting offices post Contract Opportunities, and they register their entity there to get a Unique Entity ID and bid directly. State and local governments post separately, on each state's procurement system and on the websites or bid platforms that cities, counties and school districts use, so no single site covers everything. Agency forecasts, SBA's SUBNet for subcontracting, and award data on USAspending.gov fill the gaps by showing what is coming, which primes need partners, and who buys what.
Read the full answerHow do I register on SAM.gov and find federal contract opportunities?
To register on SAM.gov, create a user account through Login.gov, select Get Started, and choose Register Entity if you want to bid directly on federal contracts, or Get a Unique Entity ID if you only need an identifier, for example as a subcontractor. Registration is free, SAM.gov says to allow at least ten business days after you submit for it to become active, and you must renew every 365 days. To find work, search Contract Opportunities on SAM.gov, which anyone can do without an account, then sign in to save searches, get emailed results and follow the notices you care about.
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