bids&tenders in Canada: how the platform works, what it costs, and who bids on it
bids&tenders is the eProcurement platform behind most Ontario school board tenders and hundreds of other public-sector buyers. Here is how supplier registration and pricing work, and which boards post there.
What bids&tenders is
bids&tenders (bidsandtenders.com) is a Canadian digital procurement platform used by more than 350 public-sector buyer organizations — municipalities, school boards, universities, hospitals and utilities — with roughly 1,000 bid projects active at any time. Each buyer runs its own branded portal on the platform, usually at an address like tdsb.bidsandtenders.ca or yrdsb.bidsandtenders.ca, so suppliers register once per buyer portal they want to track. For buyers, the platform covers the full cycle: posting bids from templates, managing supplier questions, receiving submissions through an automated compliance checker that blocks incomplete bids, running online evaluations with digital scorecards, and storing contracts and insurance certificates afterward. Support runs out of Montreal at 1-800-594-4798. As of 2026 the platform ships a Buy Ontario compliance module free for Ontario buyers, which flags qualifying projects and logs award exceptions for reporting under the Act.What bids&tenders costs suppliers
The supplier side has two published plans: pay-per-bid at $125.75 per bid for firms that bid only a few times a year, and an unlimited subscription at $34.91 per month for regular bidders, covering every organization posting on the platform. Buyers may add their own document fees, which are displayed on the opportunity before you commit, and per-board registration rules vary — the Niagara District School Board (DSBN) uses per-bid Plan Taker registration, the York Catholic DSB charges an annual fee or pay-per-bid, and the OCDSB keeps its own opportunities free. For comparison, MERX charges about $70 per solicitation and Biddingo runs on annual subscriptions — see our Canadian tender sites list for the full cost picture.Ontario school boards that run their tenders on bids&tenders
The platform is the de facto standard for Ontario English-language district school boards. These 19 boards each operate a bids&tenders portal: Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Durham District School Board (DDSB), Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), Halton District School Board (HDSB), Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB), London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB), Limestone District School Board (LDSB), Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB), Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB), Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB), Near North District School Board (NNDSB), Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPR), Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), York Region District School Board (YRDSB), York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB), Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB), Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB), Niagara District School Board (DSBN). Registration is per portal, and rules differ by board — the Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB accepts electronic submissions only, the Near North DSB requires registration before you can obtain documents, and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic DSB posts exclusively on bids&tenders. Boards on other platforms: Peel District School Board (PDSB), Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB), Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) all use Biddingo. Our school board tenders guide tracks every board's portal, thresholds and registration rules, and the board-specific pages above carry each one's verified details.How to register and start bidding
Start from the buyer, not the platform: every board and municipality names its portal on its own procurement page. Then: (1) create a free vendor account on that buyer's bids&tenders portal — registration itself costs nothing; (2) set your bid notification categories so matching opportunities arrive by email; (3) preview the full bid document free before committing to anything; (4) buy the pay-per-bid credit or start the unlimited plan only when you actually submit; and (5) submit electronically before the closing time — addenda post under the bid name on the platform, and boards like the YCDSB auto-reject bidders who acknowledge an addendum late. If you are new to the process entirely, our guide to government tenders for small business and the bid bond cost guide cover the security requirements most construction tenders carry.Frequently asked questions
How much does bids&tenders cost suppliers?
bids&tenders publishes two supplier plans on its own site: a pay-per-bid option at $125.75 per bid for occasional bidders, and an unlimited subscription at $34.91 per month that lets you bid as often as you like across every organization posting on the platform. Buyers can add their own document fees on top, shown on each opportunity, and some buyers keep their own opportunities free — the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, for example, charges no subscription fees to bid on OCDSB opportunities. If you bid more than a few times a year, the unlimited plan works out cheaper than a single MERX solicitation unlock.
Which Ontario school boards use bids&tenders?
Nineteen Ontario district school boards run their bidding on bids&tenders portals, each at a board-specific address like tdsb.bidsandtenders.ca: Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Durham District School Board (DDSB), Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB), Halton District School Board (HDSB), Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB), London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB), Limestone District School Board (LDSB), Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB), Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB), Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB), Near North District School Board (NNDSB), Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPR), Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), York Region District School Board (YRDSB), York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB), Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB), Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB), Niagara District School Board (DSBN). A few large Ontario boards use Biddingo instead, including Peel District School Board (PDSB), Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB), Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB). Your local board's own procurement page always names its platform.
Can I preview bid documents on bids&tenders before committing?
Yes. The platform lets you preview the entire bid opportunity before you register or pay, so you can judge fit before spending a pay-per-bid credit or a subscription month. You also set notification criteria — construction, consulting, a region — and bids&tenders emails you when a matching opportunity posts. Around 1,000 projects are typically active across more than 350 buyer organizations.
What is the difference between bids and tenders?
A tender is the buyer's solicitation — the formal request asking suppliers to submit priced offers by a deadline. A bid is the supplier's response to that solicitation. Platforms named “bids and tenders” simply host both sides of that exchange: buyers post tenders, suppliers submit bids, and the platform manages questions, addenda, submissions and awards in one place. In Canadian public-sector usage, “tender” usually means a formal sealed offer (common in construction), while requests for proposals weigh method statements and interviews alongside price.
PubSec.Pro monitors every Canadian public-sector tender source in real time — see today's open opportunities.