At the federal level, the GCRs generally require bids to be publicly solicited for all contracts and subject to full competitive public tendering where anyone who complies with the applicable requirements can bid. The rules are generally more flexible at the provincial level, where the circumstances in which public entities are not required to hold a competitive public tendering will be governed by applicable trade agreements, legislation, policies and directives.

Public agencies can use a broad range of approaches, provided they comply with the requirements of the bilateral or multi-national trade agreements, such as NAFTA, the GPA, and the domestic Agreement on Internal Trade ("AIT") (collectively, the "Trade Agreements"), the common law, and the agency's own internal policies and procedures. Typically, a public agency is required to have internal policies and procedures governing contracting authorities, the manner of conducting procurement, and in what circumstances procurement may be conducted. For example, such policies and procedures often provide guidance on the following documents:

• Request for Information ("RFI"), which is used as an information- gathering tool;
• Request for Expressions of Interest, which is commonly used to identity which participants in the market are able and willing to provide the goods and/or services;
• Request for Qualifications ("RFQ"), which is used to pre-screen bidders based on a set of qualification criteria established by the public agency;
• Request for Proposals ("RFP"), which typically prescribes the outcome desired but not how the successful bidder will deliver the goods and/or services. The terms and conditions of the RFP typically vary significantly, depending on the needs of the public agency. The proposals may be legally binding or non-binding, depending on the intent of the public agency; and
• Tender, which is normally used when what is being acquired can be well defined (e.g. a commodity product) and where the key criteria is price.

Electronic, on-line platforms are used by federal and provincial public bodies as the primary place to post bid solicitations and allow prospective bidders to search for bid opportunities.

Federal government entities advertise contract opportunities electronically on the Government Electronic Tendering System ("GETS"), where approximately 10,000 federal government opportunities are posted annually, according to PWGSC.

Public provincial contract opportunities are also advertised electronically through each province's respective on-line platform.

Federal Contract Notices

• PWGSC - Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders

Provincial Contract Notices

• Alberta Infrastructure - Tendering and Contracting Opportunities
• British Columbia - e-Procurement in B.C.
• Manitoba Government Tenders
• Newfoundland and Labrador Government Purchasing Agency
• New Brunswick Opportunities Network (NBON)
• Nova Scotia Tenders
• Ontario - Supply Chain Management
• Prince Edward Island Tender Opportunities
• Quebec - Sous-secrétariat aux marchés publics
• Saskatchewan - SaskTenders

Certain prospective bidders – or companies that otherwise would have bid – may be excluded from a competitive procurement process, even if they have met the procurement bid documentation requirements, for a number of reasons including poor performance under an earlier contract with the public agency, previous instances of fraud, or litigation between the entity and the public agency. In such instances, the procedure to exclude an entity must have been established well ahead of the particular competition in which the public agency seeks to exclude the entity, and the exclusion procedure must be complied with.

It is also possible to exclude all but a single entity, where sole sourcing is permitted pursuant to the applicable framework.

There are no prescribed rules on short-listing bidders. Public agencies typically address this question in their internal policies and procedures.