Letter of Interest (LOI)

A Letter of Interest (LOI) is a preliminary document used in Canadian public procurement to inform industry about a potential requirement and to gather information, feedback, ideas, or statements of capability from suppliers. It is used for information gathering before a possible future solicitation.

An LOI is not a bid solicitation. It creates no commitment to purchase anything or to award a contract, and a supplier's reply is not a bid. According to the CanadaBuys Buyer's Guide, buyers can use an LOI for the same purposes as a Request for Information (RFI).

How CanadaBuys treats the LOI

The CanadaBuys guidance treats an LOI as equivalent in function to an RFI. A buyer can use either document to:

• describe a potential requirement;
• ask businesses to explain their ability to meet it;
• obtain ideas or suggestions about the eventual procurement;
• refine the requirement, procurement strategy, objectives, or deliverables.

LOIs are typically posted on the Government Electronic Tendering Service (GETS), which is now CanadaBuys. A buyer may also send one directly to selected businesses using a source list. Every LOI must state clearly that it is not a solicitation and that no future purchase or contract is guaranteed. The same CanadaBuys page describes the exercise as purely informational.

LOI compared with RFI, ITQ, RFP and LOA

Several similar acronyms appear in federal procurement, and they are not interchangeable with each other.

• RFI (Request for Information): often used interchangeably with LOI.
• ITQ (Invitation to Qualify): a later-stage process that may qualify suppliers for a subsequent procurement.
• RFP (Request for Proposal): a solicitation under which suppliers submit bids or proposals for evaluation.
• LOA (Letter of Offer and Acceptance): a separate defence-sales term, used in United States Foreign Military Sales, and not a synonym for LOI.

CanadaBuys explains the Letter of Request and the Letter of Offer and Acceptance on its United States Foreign Military Sales page. Those documents belong to a government-to-government sales process and are separate from a procurement LOI.

Examples from federal procurements

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the Department of National Defence (DND) have both used LOIs to open industry engagement.

• Pay system support: PSPC issued LOI EP961-200285/A in 2019 to invite suppliers into a consultative process on in-service support for the Government of Canada pay system, as described in the fairness monitoring report.
• Arctic mittens and gloves: DND used an LOI to inform industry of intended design and materials changes and to examine commercial and military off-the-shelf products. See the tender notice.
• Logistics Vehicle Modernization: an LOI came before a draft and final Invitation to Qualify and a later review-and-refine-requirements solicitation, as set out in the fairness monitor's report.
• Land C4ISR sustainment: an LOI preceded a later RFI and signalled that several draft RFPs would be released for industry review and comment, according to the fairness monitoring report.
• Standing offers: a PSPC LOI for scanning and coding services for the Department of Justice was the first step toward a possible Request for Standing Offer. It also identified security requirements suppliers would need to meet before an offer could be issued. See the tender notice.

What an LOI means for a supplier

Respond to an LOI by giving the information it asks for. That may include company capability, available products or services, technical information, comments on draft requirements, or participation in engagement sessions. Your response is not a bid, and it does not by itself secure a place in a later procurement unless the LOI expressly sets up another process.

An LOI is still an early signal that a requirement is taking shape, and it is one of the few points where a supplier can influence it. Comments on scope, security requirements, or product options can inform the requirement before the solicitation is written. Read the notice for any security requirements and for the way the buyer says it will use the responses. Watch for the follow-on documents, such as an RFI, an ITQ, draft RFPs, or a Request for Standing Offer, because the formal solicitation is where bids are evaluated.