AIT (Agreement on Internal Trade)

AIT stands for Agreement on Internal Trade. It was an intergovernmental agreement among Canada's provinces and territories, signed by Canadian First Ministers, and it came into force in 1995. Its purpose was to reduce barriers to the free movement of people, goods, services and investment within Canada, including discriminatory practices in public procurement. The Canada Revenue Agency describes the agreement in its procurement policy appendix on trade agreements.

The AIT is now a superseded term. The Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) replaced it on July 1, 2017. You will still meet the AIT in older contract records, legacy policy material and procurements that began before that date, but it is not the operative internal trade agreement for new solicitations.

What the AIT's procurement rules targeted

The procurement provisions aimed to give Canadian suppliers equal access to public contracts across jurisdictions. They addressed specific discriminatory practices: local price preferences, biased technical specifications and unfair registration requirements. The rules were set out principally in Chapter Five of the agreement. That chapter dealt with covered entities, covered goods and services, financial thresholds, valuation, procurement procedures and public notification.

Thresholds and coverage tests under the AIT

Not every federal purchase was subject to the AIT. Under the federal Supply Manual's historical guidance, an acquisition was covered only if several criteria were met: the procurement value, the client department's coverage, the type of requirement and the absence of an applicable exclusion. The Supply Manual on CanadaBuys explains how trade agreement coverage is determined.

The historical thresholds were $25,000 for goods, $100,000 for services and $100,000 for construction, as listed in the CRA appendix. A requirement below the relevant threshold, or one that fell under an exclusion, was outside the agreement.

Notice requirements for AIT procurements

Federal procurements subject to the AIT had to publish notices of planned procurement through the Government Electronic Tendering Service (GETS), which PSPC administers. The Treasury Board Secretariat's contracting policy notice 2015-3 sets out the AIT thresholds and this notice obligation. In practice, a covered requirement was openly advertised and suppliers competed on the stated requirements.

How the CFTA replaced the AIT

The Supply Manual states that the CFTA replaced the AIT on July 1, 2017. The AIT continues to apply only to procurements commenced before that date, and only until those procurements are completed. After that, no new federal procurement falls under the AIT.

Federal contract records still identify the Agreement on Internal Trade as an applicable trade agreement for particular contracts. Examples appear in Department of National Defence and Shared Services Canada entries on Open Canada and in later contract disclosures. These records reflect the agreement that applied when the procurement started.

What AIT means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

If you see AIT in a contract history or an older manual, read it as a record of how a past procurement was classified. It tells you the buyer treated that requirement as covered by internal trade rules. It does not tell you which agreement governs a solicitation open today.

• For a new federal solicitation, rely on the trade agreements the tender document lists. The solicitation's stated coverage and instructions control.
• Do not assume the old AIT thresholds apply to current bids.
• When researching incumbents or past awards, expect AIT references in records from before the CFTA took effect.
• Use AIT-era contract data as historical context for pricing and buyer behaviour, and check the current solicitation for the rules in force.