Selective tendering

Selective tendering is a procurement method that limits a competition to suppliers who have already been prequalified — instead of inviting everyone, the buyer invites only the businesses on a prequalification list. Canada's trade agreements sit it between open tendering (anyone may bid) and limited tendering (contracting without competition), and PSPC's Buyer's Portal treats it as one of the three tendering approaches available to federal buyers.

How CanadaBuys describes it

PSPC's buyer guidance states there are three tendering approaches under the trade agreements — open, selective and limited — and describes selective tendering as involving "either a one-time list or a permanent list of prequalified offerors." A key protection for suppliers: the buyer must allow all prequalified offerors to participate in a procurement, unless it specified in its prequalification request any limitation on the number of offerors permitted to submit an offer and the criteria for that decision.

The CFTA prequalification rules

Article 508 of the CFTA is the engine behind selective tendering. It lets a procuring entity limit tenders to prequalified suppliers, provided the prequalification process is consistent with the Chapter. The request for prequalification is itself published in a tender notice (annually for ongoing lists) and must state the criteria used to prequalify suppliers, that only suppliers on the prequalified list will receive further notices covered by the list, and the period the list is valid. Where a prequalification list will be valid for three years or less, the entity may publish the request only once at the start of the period — which is why missing an intake posting can mean waiting years for the next one. The CFTA also requires that, if a procuring entity intends to select a limited number of qualified suppliers from a list, the selection criteria and any cap on the number of bidders be disclosed.

One-time lists vs. permanent lists

CanadaBuys distinguishes two forms. A one-time list is a two-stage process: the buyer publishes an NPP to identify businesses meeting predetermined qualifications, then issues tender documentation to those prequalified offerors — with an NPP published at both stages for procurements covered by international trade agreements. A permanent list is built once and reused: tender documents are issued for individual solicitations under the same list across multiple competitions, other potential offerors who request tender documentation must still be considered if there is sufficient time to prequalify them, and an annual notice of the list's existence must be published for CFTA-covered lists. At PSPC, obligations regarding permanent lists are operationalized as supply arrangements; the same instrument is called a "source list" or, in many trade agreements, a "multi-use list."

Common questions

Is selective tendering the same as a pre-qualified supplier list?

The list is the tool; selective tendering is the method of running competitions through it. A prequalification list is defined in the CFTA as a list of suppliers the entity has determined satisfy the conditions for participation and intends to use more than once. Getting on relevant lists — through public prequalification notices — is therefore how you stay eligible for the selective competitions that never appear as open tenders.

How do I get invited to bid?

You generally self-invite by responding to the public request for prequalification itself. Those intakes are posted as notices in their own right, and they are easy to miss because the reward is not a contract but admission to future ones. Prequalification typically screens legal and financial capacity plus commercial and technical ability — the CFTA prohibits limiting participation to suppliers that previously won contracts from the entity.

Is selective tendering anti-competitive?

Not as structured. The trade agreements require the prequalification criteria to be published, all prequalified suppliers to be included unless a stated limitation applies, and requests for documentation from non-listed suppliers to be considered when time permits. The concern buyers must avoid is using prequalification as a device to keep new entrants out — general procurement rules bar registration or qualification systems that create unnecessary obstacles to supplier participation.

Related definitions

Pre-qualified supplier list · RFSA (request for supply arrangement) · Supply arrangement vs. standing offer · Open tendering