Ontario Eliminates Fees on Government Procurement Opportunities
Ontario is making it easier and cheaper for companies to do business with the government by eliminating the fees that businesses have to pay to access procurement contracts.
Jeff Leal, Minister Responsible for Small Business, made the announcement at the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council’s Diversity Procurement Fair in Toronto.
Businesses can now submit bids for free on the Ontario Tenders Portal, waiving the previous requirement of a $300 submission fee per bid or $750 annual fee for an unlimited bid for procurement opportunities with the government. Businesses will now also have free access to the Registration, Appraisal and Qualification System used by the Ministry of Transportation for road maintenance procurements, which previously required businesses to pay a $525 annual fee to access that system.
The elimination of these fees is part of Ontario’s plan to make it easier for businesses to submit bids for government contracts, which also includes the designation of 33 per cent of its procurement spending to small and medium-sized businesses by 2020.
Ontario’s plan to support care, create opportunity and make life more affordable during this period of rapid economic change includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25, and 65 or over, through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.
“By eliminating procurement bidding fees, we are creating new opportunities for Ontario small and medium sized businesses to better compete and grow. This part of our government’s commitment to create the right conditions for small business in Ontario to succeed, including increasing government procurement for SMEs to 33 per cent by 2020.”
“Doing business with the government shouldn’t be complicated. That’s why we are continuing to transform our approach to make the procurement process more efficient. Eliminating fees for procurement opportunities in Ontario is part of a modern procurement process that can work for every business and we are proud to be stepping in the right direction.”
