Open (Open Tendering)

In Canadian government procurement, open refers to open tendering. The buyer publishes a notice of proposed procurement and invites all interested businesses to submit offers. Any supplier that can meet the stated requirements may respond, and no invitation list limits who can take part.

Open tendering is one of three tendering approaches recognized under applicable trade agreements. The other two are selective and limited tendering. CanadaBuys describes open tendering as the Government of Canada's preferred approach.

Open, selective and limited: the three tendering approaches

Trade agreements set out three ways a buyer can tender a requirement. Under open tendering, the notice goes out publicly and every interested business can submit an offer. The selective and limited approaches restrict participation in ways the open approach does not. The federal sourcing strategy guidance on CanadaBuys lists all three and identifies open tendering as the preferred choice.

Why open tendering is the federal default

The Government Contracts Regulations generally require the Government of Canada to solicit offers before entering a contract, subject to specified exceptions. Whenever possible, contractors are selected through a competitive process. Open tendering is the most direct way to meet that expectation, because it puts the opportunity in front of the whole supplier community. The same CanadaBuys guidance sets out this framework.

How open bidding appears in contract records

The Government of Canada's contract database uses the label Competitive – Open Bidding for contracts sourced through an open competitive process. A supplier researching past awards can use that label to see which contracts were won through public competition. The proactive disclosure contracts search on open.canada.ca is where these records are published.

Where open opportunities are published

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is the main procurement arm of the federal government. Federal tender and award notices are published on CanadaBuys, which is the official source for them, as PSPC's guidance on supplying services confirms. CanadaBuys also carries tender notices from other federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations, broader public-sector organizations, and NATO. Its guidance on searching tender opportunities explains how to find them.

Canadian businesses may bid on many opportunities from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). Unrestricted solicitations above specified thresholds are published on the NSPA eProcurement portal and made available through CanadaBuys. Businesses must register to work with NSPA.

What open tendering means for a supplier

An open tender gives your business a direct route to a contract without needing an invitation. Your steps are:

• Find the published notice on CanadaBuys.
• Review the solicitation requirements and evaluation criteria.
• Submit your offer by the specified deadline and in the specified method.

A request for proposal (RFP) is a call for bids that contains the required specifications and evaluation criteria, as described in the federal guidance on bidding. Because open tenders are public, you will also be competing against every other interested business, so your response needs to address each evaluation criterion directly.