Frequently asked questions

ContractFinder.ca is independent and is not an official government website. Always confirm tender details on the official source before bidding.

It helps suppliers search federal opportunity data, research past award prices, save promising tenders, and plan next steps before bidding. It is a research and discovery workspace, not a bid submission system — you still submit through the buyer's official channel.

ContractFinder.ca covers federal Canadian procurement opportunities. Provincial, municipal and SAP Ariba sources are not yet included. Our guides explain where to search provincial, municipal and SAP Ariba sources directly in the meantime.

No. ContractFinder.ca supports discovery and review workflows. It does not guarantee bid outcomes, awards, revenue, or eligibility, and it has no visibility into how a buyer evaluates submissions.

Yes, always. Confirm tender details, addenda, eligibility, closing dates and submission instructions on the official source before bidding. Amendments are published to the official notice and can change requirements late in the process.

Contract data is imported on a weekday schedule. Always confirm status, closing dates and amendments on the official source before acting on a notice.

CanadaBuys is the Government of Canada's official tender service, operated by Public Services and Procurement Canada. It replaced Buyandsell.gc.ca as the authoritative place where federal opportunity notices and award notices are published. It is the source of record — always verify a notice there before bidding.

A standing offer is not a contract. It is an offer from a supplier to provide goods or services at pre-arranged prices for a set period. The government issues a call-up against it when it actually needs the work. Getting on a standing offer means you are eligible to receive call-ups, not that any volume is promised.

A supply arrangement is a pre-qualified pool of suppliers. Being on it means you can bid on subsequent competitions restricted to that pool. Unlike a standing offer, prices are usually not fixed up front — you still compete on each individual requirement.

An RFP asks suppliers to propose a solution and is evaluated on technical merit and price. An ITT is used when requirements are already well defined and price dominates. An RFQ is for low-value, clearly specified purchases. The solicitation type tells you how much of your effort should go into methodology versus pricing.

An Advance Contract Award Notice is posted when a buyer believes only one supplier can meet a requirement. It gives others a window to demonstrate they can also satisfy the need. If no valid challenge is submitted before the closing date, the contract can be awarded without full competition.

Public Services and Procurement Canada procures on behalf of many departments. The Department of National Defence, Shared Services Canada, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency are also substantial buyers in their own right. Which one matters to you depends entirely on your category.

You generally need a Procurement Business Number to do business with the federal government, and you register as a supplier through CanadaBuys. Registration is free. Some competitions carry additional requirements, such as being on a specific supply arrangement or holding a security clearance.

Only for some contracts. Requirements range from none, through reliability status, up to secret or top secret, and they may apply to personnel, to your facility, or to both. Clearances are sponsored — you cannot obtain one speculatively in advance, so check the requirement early because the timeline can exceed the bidding window.

It varies with the value and complexity of the requirement and with the applicable trade agreements. Complex RFPs commonly allow several weeks; simple RFQs can be much shorter. Treat the closing time on the official notice as absolute — late submissions are normally rejected without review.

The buyer evaluates compliant bids against the published criteria, then issues an award notice naming the winning supplier and the contract value. Unsuccessful bidders can usually request a debriefing, which is the single most useful thing you can do to improve the next submission.

Browsing the site, the guides and the glossary requires no account. Saved searches, shortlists and the dashboard are tied to an account because they store your criteria.

By service or keyword, by buyer, by category, by closing date, and by tender reference number. The homepage search also suggests glossary terms and guides, so a term you do not recognise takes you to a definition rather than an empty result set.

Paste the reference directly into the search box. Federal references usually look like EN578-180000/123/EE or W8486-215678. If the reference is not in our index, check it on the official CanadaBuys notice.

A saved search stores a set of criteria — keywords, category, region — under your account so you do not rebuild the same query each visit. Saved searches are what the daily digest matches new opportunities against.

Save your criteria, then the weekday digest emails you new opportunities that match. You can change categories and regions, or unsubscribe entirely, from the preferences link in the footer of any email.

Yes. Award history shows the supplier, buyer and value for past contracts, which is the closest thing to a reference price available. Buyers rarely publish a budget, so comparable awards are usually the strongest pricing evidence you have.

No. There is no fit-scoring model in the product today. Any prioritisation is yours to make — we surface the opportunity, the buyer and the award history, and you judge whether it is worth bidding.

No. Keyword matching ignores case. Broader terms return more, so start wide and narrow with category and buyer rather than guessing the exact phrasing a buyer used in a title.

Start from award history for comparable work, then adjust for scope, location, term and your own cost base. Pricing below your cost to win a first contract tends to create a reference price you cannot escape on renewal. Our bid-writing articles cover this in detail.

Most rejections are mechanical rather than substantive: a missing mandatory form, an unmet mandatory criterion, an unsigned page, or a late submission. Build a compliance checklist from the solicitation document itself before you start writing.

Not always, though some competitions include mandatory experience criteria you genuinely cannot meet without it. Subcontracting to an established prime, or targeting lower-value work first, are the usual routes in.

Use the sign-up link in the header. You need an email address and a password; there is no payment step to create an account.

Searching and browsing are free and need no account. Current plan details are on the pricing page, which is the authoritative source — we do not repeat figures here that could drift out of date.

Every digest email has an unsubscribe link and a preferences link in the footer. Unsubscribing stops the emails but leaves your account and saved searches intact.