Where are Yukon government tenders posted?

Where does the Government of Yukon post its tenders?

The Government of Yukon's bid opportunities are on its Bid Opportunities Website at yukon.bidsandtenders.ca, branded Bids and Tenders - Yukon and hosted on the bids&tenders platform. Its bid list shows each bid's name, status (open, closed or awarded) and closing date, and each bid's details page carries the full record, including results once the bid closes.

The portal says bid opportunities released before August 18, 2020 are not on it but on the government's older Tender Management System. That only matters if you are researching older contracts; anything current is on bids&tenders.

Some Government of Yukon notices also show up on CanadaBuys. A Government of Yukon tender covered by the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, for example, was published on CanadaBuys with a link back to yukon.bidsandtenders.ca for the full details. Treat the Yukon portal as the place where documents, addenda and submissions live.

How do I register and get notified of Yukon bids?

The portal says a free account can be made with the Create Account button. Registration is what makes the site work for you, because notices and secured documents are tied to your account.

1. Go to yukon.bidsandtenders.ca and select Create Account.
2. Choose the commodity codes that describe your business. The portal sends email notifications for bids that match those codes, so pick every code that fits your work.
3. When a bid interests you, open its details page and register for the bid. Some procurement documents are secured, and the portal says you must register for the bid to download them.
4. Keep your account details current. The portal says businesses are responsible for keeping their account information accurate.

The portal says there is no charge to download unsecured documents or to take part in a solicitation. The Government of Yukon also points suppliers to tutorial videos on YG Learn showing how to set up an account and how to submit online. Technical problems with the site go to bids&tenders support at support@bidsandtenders.ca rather than to the buyer.

What does a Yukon bid page tell me?

Each bid details page carries the information you need to decide quickly:

• Bid classification, bid type (for example a Request for Proposals), bid number, status, closing date and the question deadline.
• The submission type and address. A bid that says Online Submissions Only must be submitted through the portal, so check this field before you plan your submission.
• The trade agreements that apply and the categories the buyer chose.
• Addenda, which are posted on the bid page.
• A plan takers list. The bid page notes that some information is only available to invited bidders and registered plan takers who log in.
• After closing, a Bids Submitted section with bidders and prices, which the portal labels unofficial and unverified, and an award section once the bid is awarded.

The Bids Submitted section is useful for pricing research. Read the disclaimer: the posted amounts do not necessarily represent the final price used in evaluation.

How does the Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy affect bids?

The Yukon First Nations Procurement Policy was endorsed at the Yukon Forum on December 11, 2020, after a collaborative process between territorial and Yukon First Nations government representatives. It sits as a sub-section of General Administration Manual 2.6, the Government of Yukon's procurement policy, which took effect on April 1, 2019. The government implemented the third and final phase on October 4, 2021.

The measures announced with the policy include:

• Bid value reductions for bidders and sub-contractors, based on their percentage of Yukon First Nation ownership.
• Points in tenders for bids that commit to hiring Yukon First Nations people.
• Worker development plans and Community Development Agreements, the latter for projects within a First Nation's traditional territory.
• A Yukon First Nations Business Registry that lists Yukon First Nation-owned businesses and the goods and services they provide, with a verification process, available to Government of Yukon procurement authorities.
• Annual community contract forecasts shared with Yukon First Nations communities.

The policy defines a Yukon First Nation business through several ownership tests, such as a sole proprietorship owned by a Yukon First Nation person, or a corporation with at least 51% of its voting shares owned by a Yukon First Nation person or qualifying organization. The government also said businesses can become more competitive by partnering with Yukon First Nation businesses or hiring Yukon First Nations labour, so read the evaluation section of each bid to see how these provisions apply to it.

Where are City of Whitehorse and federal tenders in the Yukon posted?

City of Whitehorse

The City of Whitehorse does not use the territorial portal. It posts solicitations on its own procurement portal powered by Bonfire Interactive, at whitehorse.bonfirehub.ca, and accepts and evaluates bids and proposals there. The City says businesses that want to be in the database its purchasers use should register through that portal, and strongly encourages choosing the UNSPSC code that best matches your goods or services, because that is how you receive email notifications of new opportunities. Questions about registration or submissions go to Bonfire's technical support.

The City's tenders page also links to a list of upcoming procurement projects with anticipated posting dates, which is worth checking every couple of months.

Federal work

Federal tenders in the Yukon are on CanadaBuys, which lists tenders covered by Canada's trade agreements that meet the agreement dollar thresholds. CanadaBuys offers email alerts, bookmarked searches and RSS or ATOM feeds, and publishes new notices and amendments daily.

Where do suppliers most often miss Yukon opportunities?

What I see most often in smaller markets like the Yukon is a supplier watching one portal and assuming it covers everything. A few specific gaps:

• Narrow commodity codes. Yukon notifications only fire for the codes on your account, so one missing code means silence on that category.
• Previewing without registering for the bid. Secured documents need registration, and the bid page says some information is only available to invited bidders and registered plan takers.
• Watching only the territorial portal. Whitehorse posts on Bonfire, federal work is on CanadaBuys, and each needs its own account and alert setup.
• Missing invitational work. The Auditor General of Canada's 2024 audit describes Government of Yukon procurement methods of direct award, invitational tendering and open tendering by dollar value, so smaller contracts are not always posted openly. Being known to buyers matters here.
• Ignoring forecasts. The Government of Yukon has adjusted timelines for tender forecasts, and the City of Whitehorse publishes upcoming projects with anticipated posting dates. Both give you lead time before a bid opens.
• Not reading the First Nations provisions. Bid value reductions and hiring commitments can change how a bid is scored, so check the evaluation section before pricing.

For research into who has won past work, the Government of Yukon publishes a Public Contract Registry and a Closed Tenders dataset on its open government portal. The dataset pages show they were last updated in 2021, so use them for history and use the Bids Submitted and award sections on current bid pages for recent results.