Debrief request: your rights after losing a federal bid

Requesting a debriefing is a supplier right, not a favour — and the deadlines that follow it are brutally short. This page is about the rights and next-steps timeline: what you can demand, when, and where to escalate if the answers point to a flawed process. For what a debriefing contains, see supplier debriefing.

The rights you hold

Per CanadaBuys, you may contact the contracting officer to request a debriefing once you have been notified of the bid evaluation results or the contract was awarded to someone else — including when supply arrangements and standing offers are issued — and the right rests on the Directive on the Management of Procurement and some trade agreements. Federal practice adds timing expectations: Supply Manual guidance says bidders should request a debriefing within fifteen (15) working days of receiving the results, and that a debriefing should be provided within ten (10) working days of the request, in writing, by phone or in person. The contracting officer may discuss only the contents of your bid — never another bidder's.

The deadlines that follow

If the debriefing reveals grounds for a challenge, the clock is already running under the Canadian International Trade Tribunal's Procurement Inquiry Regulations. For covered procurements you generally have ten working days after the basis of a complaint became known — or reasonably should have become known — to make an objection to the government institution, and then ten working days after being informed the institution hasn't resolved your objection to file a complaint with the Tribunal. CanadaBuys notes that where there is a public award notice, the complaint window is ten working days from that notice. Missing the windows ends the matter: neither the institution nor the Tribunal can respond. On the contractual side rather than the award side, the Office of the Procurement Ombud accepts complaints about the award of certain federal contracts valued below roughly $33,400 for goods and $133,800 for services where criteria are met — and Treasury Board updates these trade-agreement-based thresholds every two years.

Practical sequence

Request the debriefing immediately on notification — don't wait out the fifteen working days. Note the date you learned anything that could ground a complaint; the Tribunal counts from when you knew or should have known. Put any objection to the contracting authority in writing and keep proof of dates. If you intend a CITT complaint, calendar the ten-working-day windows as hard deadlines and file even while discussions continue — pursuing talks does not extend the limits. The Tribunal normally completes an inquiry within 90 days, extendable to 135.

Common questions

Can the buyer refuse my debriefing request?

The right to request one flows from the Directive on the Management of Procurement and trade agreements for covered procurements. Scope varies, but the request itself is a right — and it costs nothing.

Does a debriefing pause the challenge deadlines?

No. The ten-working-day windows under the Procurement Inquiry Regulations run from when the basis of a complaint was or should have been known, and from the denial of an objection — not from when you finish your debriefing. File to preserve rights, then keep talking.

Where does an award complaint go if the value is above the OPO limits?

To the Canadian International Trade Tribunal for covered procurements. See the CITT bid challenge process and how CFTA and CITT timelines compare.

Related definitions

Supplier debriefing · CITT bid challenge process · Contract award notice · Evaluation criteria and weighting