Open tendering

Open tendering is a procurement method in which every interested supplier may submit a tender in response to a publicly posted notice — no invitation, prequalification or prior relationship required. It is the default competitive method for Canadian government buying, both under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) and in federal practice on CanadaBuys.

The official definition

Chapter Five of the CFTA defines the term directly: "open tendering means a procurement method whereby all interested suppliers may submit a tender." PSPC's Buyer's Portal guidance for federal buyers lists the tendering approaches used under Canada's trade agreements — open, selective and limited — and describes open tendering as publishing a notice of proposed procurement (NPP) to invite all interested businesses to submit offers. It also states plainly that open tendering is the preferred approach, which is why the overwhelming majority of federal opportunities you see advertised carry the procurement method label "Competitive – Open Bidding."

How it works in practice

Under the CFTA, a procuring entity publishes a tender notice for each covered procurement on a tendering website or system its Party designates — for the federal government, that is CanadaBuys, the Government Electronic Tendering Service. The notice states what is being bought, the deadline for submission, the evaluation criteria and related details, and tender notices must be available to suppliers free of charge. Any supplier can obtain the documents, prepare a bid and submit it before closing; the contract is then awarded based on the criteria stated in the solicitation. For suppliers, the practical consequence is accessibility: you can monitor public tender listings, bid on opportunities you never heard of before, and compete with incumbents on equal procedural footing.

Common questions

Does open tendering mean the lowest price always wins?

No. Open tendering describes who may bid, not how the winner is chosen. Awards go to the supplier whose tender is the most advantageous based on the evaluation criteria stated in the solicitation; lowest price decides only where price is the sole criterion. Federal contract history pages show both "Lowest Price" and combined technical-and-price selection criteria on open-bidding competitions.

Is "open bidding" the same thing as open tendering?

Yes in practice — "open bidding" is the label federal tender notices and contract history pages use for the procurement method, while "open tendering" is the trade-agreement term defined in the CFTA. Both mean the competition is open to all interested suppliers.

Do I have to pay to access open tenders?

For covered procurements, no: the CFTA requires that all tender notices be available to suppliers free of charge, and basic federal tender documents are posted on CanadaBuys without charge. Some third-party tendering systems or notices distributed through them may carry fees for document access or subscriptions, which is worth checking before you commit to a bid effort.

Related definitions

Tender notice · Notice of intended procurement (NPP) · Selective tendering · CFTA thresholds