How can I win federal government contracts?

The federal government is a substantial purchaser of goods and services in the Ottawa region. Winning a government contract can result in a sizeable increase in sales for your small business. Check out these sites for a wealth of information on doing business with the government.

Contracts Canada is a federal government department of PWGSC (Public Works and Government Services of Canada) available to assist you in doing business with the federal government. This office offers a number of services that will be useful to you, as you try to win your first federal contract. The telephone number for the Information Centre is 1-800-811-1148.

Contracts Canada also offers FREE seminars that will provide an excellent overview of the process as well as advice on writing proposals.

Another component of the Contracts Canada web site that we find useful is the Contract History section. This section identifies all government contracts that have been awarded over the last few years, who issued them, which organizations completed the contracts and the dollar value of those contracts. This information will be very useful to you in conducting market research.

The Supplier Registration Information (SRI) is a database of registered suppliers who are interested in doing business with the federal government. This information is used by federal government purchasers to assist them in sourcing suppliers for low dollar amount purchases. Small businesses must self-register to be included.

Created and powered by Cebra Inc. (a Bank of Montreal company), MERX is Canada's largest B2B portal. MERX is the federal government's online tendering service. Municipalities, schools and hospitals also use this service to post requests for proposals (RFPs). All government contracts for goods and services above a specific dollar amount are posted on this site. Membership is optional and there is a cost associated with downloading documents.