How do I find government tenders in Canada?

Where do I look for each level of government?

In my experience, the most common mistake is treating "government tenders" as one place. Canada has several layers of public buyers, and each layer publishes somewhere different.

• Federal: CanadaBuys is the official source for Government of Canada tender and award notices. It became the system of record for federal tender notices on August 8, 2022.
• Provincial and territorial: each government runs or designates its own tendering site, listed further down this page.
• Municipal and broader public sector: municipalities, academic institutions, school boards and hospitals, often called the MASH sector, post on their province's portal, on their own e-procurement system or on a third-party tendering service.
• NATO: CanadaBuys also shows notices from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, which Canadian businesses can bid on because Canada is a NATO member.

How do I find federal tenders on CanadaBuys?

CanadaBuys is a suite of procurement services offered by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). Its Tender opportunities page lists notices from PSPC, other federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations, the broader Canadian public sector and NATO.

You can search by keyword, solicitation number, organization name, trade agreement or commodity code (UNSPSC or GSIN), then narrow the results with filters such as category, status, location, published date, closing date and notice type. New tender notices and amendments are published daily.

One limit to know: CanadaBuys says tender opportunities are published there if they are subject to one of Canada's trade agreements and their estimated value is equal to or above that agreement's dollar thresholds. Smaller federal purchases often happen another way, which I cover in the last section.

To see the full documents for a PSPC tender, you need a SAP Business Network account, which CanadaBuys describes as free. Notices from other federal departments usually carry the solicitation documents directly on the notice's Bidding details tab.

Where does each province and territory post tenders?

CanadaBuys keeps a list of provincial and territorial procurement sites. These are the names it uses, with details from the provinces' own pages where they publish them:

• Alberta: Alberta Purchasing Connection (APC), used by the Government of Alberta and public sector entities such as municipalities, school boards and health entities. Alberta says registration is not required to view opportunities but is recommended.
• British Columbia: BC Bid, which also serves broader public sector buyers including municipal governments, school districts, health authorities, Crown corporations and B.C. First Nations.
• Manitoba: the province says its tenders that exceed trade agreement thresholds are advertised and distributed through MERX.
• New Brunswick: the New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON).
• Newfoundland and Labrador: the Public Procurement Agency uses MERX, has accepted bids only through MERX's online e-bidding system since May 3, 2021, and says the service is free to use.
• Northwest Territories: Contract Event Opportunities.
• Nova Scotia: the provincial tender notice site, which covers government departments, agencies, boards, commissions and the MASH sector.
• Nunavut: the Nunavut Tenders listing.
• Ontario: the Ontario Tenders Portal. Supply Ontario says businesses can register for free and submit bids on open procurements.
• Prince Edward Island: the provincial Tenders page.
• Quebec: SEAO (Système électronique d'appel d'offres). Public bodies covered by Quebec's Act respecting contracting by public bodies, and municipalities, must publish their public calls for tenders there.
• Saskatchewan: SaskTenders.
• Yukon: the Bid on a Government Contract page on yukon.ca.

How do I find municipal, school board, hospital and university tenders?

This is the hardest layer, because there is no single rule. From what I see, these buyers use one of three routes:

• The provincial portal. Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec all carry municipal and other public sector notices on their provincial systems.
• Their own e-procurement system. The City of Toronto, for example, requires suppliers to register on SAP Business Network to view or bid on its solicitations, and says there is no fee for a standard account.
• A third-party tendering service. CanadaBuys' own list of Canadian public procurement gateways names MERX, bids&tenders, Biddingo and BIDSAlert.

Some broader public sector notices also appear on CanadaBuys with a link out to the buyer's own site. CanadaBuys notes that you may need an account on that site, and that any fees to access the full details are described in the notice.

The practical approach: list the specific buyers you want to sell to, open each one's purchasing or bid opportunities page, and note which portal it uses. Buyers do change platforms, so recheck that list from time to time.

Should I use free official sources or a paid aggregator?

Official sources are the government's own sites: CanadaBuys and the provincial and territorial portals. They are the authoritative record for the buyers that use them, and several state that supplier registration is free, including the SAP Business Network account CanadaBuys uses for PSPC tenders and the Ontario Tenders Portal.

Aggregators and third-party tendering services gather notices from many buyers in one place. Some are also the official posting venue for particular buyers, as MERX is for Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. Access models differ, and some combine free and subscription levels, so check each service's own pricing page for what is included.

Which is better depends on how many buyers you follow. If you sell to one federal department and one province, the official sources may be enough. If you follow dozens of municipalities and agencies across provinces, a single feed saves time, but confirm that each of your key buyers is actually covered before relying on it.

How do I set up notifications and supplier registration?

1. If you plan to bid on PSPC tenders, register on SAP Business Network through the CanadaBuys link. CanadaBuys allows one account per Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business number and recommends registering and completing your profile before you need it.
2. On CanadaBuys, run a search for your goods or services, then use "Follow this search" to get email, RSS or Atom updates. Use "Follow this notice" on each specific tender you are tracking so you see its amendments.
3. Register on each provincial portal you serve. On some, such as Alberta Purchasing Connection, viewing is open but registration unlocks document downloads and notifications.
4. Register with the e-procurement systems of the municipalities and public bodies you target, and choose your commodity categories carefully. Toronto, for example, notifies registered suppliers about solicitations in the commodities they list.
5. If you are an Indigenous business, consider registering in the Indigenous Business Directory, which CanadaBuys links to from its registration steps.
6. Review your saved searches every few months and add synonyms, and French terms where relevant.

Where do suppliers most often miss government tenders?

What I see most often is not a lack of effort. It is gaps in coverage. The common ones:

• Assuming CanadaBuys covers all federal buying. PSPC treats purchases below $25,000 for goods and $40,000 for services and construction, including taxes, as low dollar value, and says these are often direct purchases where buyers use source lists or their professional networks.
• Watching one portal when the buyer uses another. A city, a school board and a hospital in the same town can each publish in a different place.
• Relying on keyword alerts alone. Alerts match the words you chose, so a notice that describes the same work in different terms, or in French, can slip past.
• Relying on one commodity code system. Federal classification is moving from GSIN to UNSPSC codes, and some federal departments still use GSIN during the transition, so a code-based alert can miss notices classified under the other system.
• Missing amendments. A tender you found weeks ago may have changed its scope, dates or requirements, which is why following each notice matters.
• Registering too late. Supplier registration, questionnaires and, where needed, security screening take time you may not have once a tender is open.

For low dollar value work, PSPC suggests registering in government supplier databases, connecting with officials in departments and agencies, and searching award notices and low dollar value procurement history to see what has been bought in your region.