Doing Business with Government: Canada
From www.entrepreneurstoolkit.org
Many start up and small businesses seek to do business with governments. This page provides information that is intended to help entrepreneurs access government purchasing opportunities.
For small and medium-sized businesses, supplying the government provides security that they will be paid. Government can also be a major customer that assists the growth of small companies.
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Difficulties in getting a contract for small companies
Getting a contract may be more difficult for a small company due to:
- Costs to access the bid. In Canada, the federal government listings are free on Merx. A number of the provinces have their own bid sites sometimes just posting a notice on Merx for contracts over a specified dollar value. Otherwise, accessing bid opportunities may require payment of fees for a subscription as well as for individual tender documents.
- Some of the pre-qualifications may not be achievable for a small business, for example having worked for the public sector in the last three years or have $5 million insurance even if the request for proposal is just a research paper. Large companies which have many employees can list a lot of experience even though the person actually assigned to the project may not have personally been involved in all of them.
- Large contractors may subcontract at low payment rates while making most of the money.
- Scoring systems for the tend evaluation which favour large companies. Government officials can try to reduce the risk by favouring large well-known companies; if there is a contract failure, they are less likely to be blamed than if a lesser-known small company fails to produce the required results.
- The amount of time taken usually by the small business owner to prepare a proposal. SMEs should study the requirements carefully and perhaps get together with other companies to augment the experiences and skills. Lobbying politicians to ensure that the smaller business sector gets a fair share of the contracts while ensuring the public still gets good value is another option.
Merx
In Canada, government tenders that exceed trade agreement thresholds are advertised. The federal government and most provinces post notices to vendors on MERX, a commercial service, which operates a nation-wide tendering service. Federal government notices and bid packages are free but there are often fees to access provincial and private sector bids on Merx.
- Merx contact
- Tel: 1 800 964-6379
- http://www.merx.com
More information on government purchasing policies and practices is available at other government sources. For example, provinces also have their own procurement services web sites. These sites provide information on how to do business with the government and how government buys including whether there are any efforts to give preference to greener purchases or to specific vendors such as aboriginal vendors.
Another example, Manitoba passed the Sustainable Development in 1998 which required the establishment of Procurement Guidelines in 2000. However, just because there are green procurement guidelines does not mean they are always, or even usually, applied to tender requirements.
Manitoba
Procurement Services Branch 2nd Floor, 270 Osborne Street North Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada R3C 1V7 Telephone: 204-945-6361 Fax: 204-945-1455 E-mail: procserv@gov.mb.ca http://www.manitoba.ca/mit/psb/index.html
Alberta Purchasing Connection APC
Companies can register and download all documents necessary to bid on a purchasing opportunity and receive notifications of amendments by email. A premium membership provides emails based on sectors/locations or selection criteria. APC advises that companies not rely solely on the service to identify opportunities or updates because those with posts may differ in how they make such information available.
- APC Help Desk
- Telephone: (780) 644-5726 Toll Free (in Alberta):310-0000
- APC.Help@gov.ab.ca
Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) made sustainability commitments. Reports on its performance between August 1, 2007 and July 31, 2008, are available online at http://www.vancouver2010.com
VANOC is developing environmental management plans for operational venues, working on energy and water conservation and tracking the carbon dioxide emissions from Games-based activities. Fifty per cent of spending by VANOC went to local suppliers in Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor, while a further 43 per cent went to companies in British Columbia (BC) and the rest of Canada. Over $8.8 million in contracts went to Aboriginal businesses. VANOC continued to monitor and audit its licensees and their supply chains to ensure they complied with relevant legal requirements, respected the rights of workers and protected the environment.
Procurement for the Games are posted at the 2010 Commerce Centre. Companies must be registered.
- 2010 Commerce Centre
- BC 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat
- Suite 1600, 800 Robson Street (Lower Plaza)
- Vancouver, British Columbia
- Canada, V6Z 3B7
- General Inquiries
- Tel: 604.660.2020 Toll-Free: 1.888.778.2010 Fax: 604.660.2520
- info2010commercecentre@gov.bc.ca
- To register: http://www.2010commercecentre.gov.bc.ca/Register/Default.aspx
