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.
The Ontario Government spends billions of dollars each year on goods, services and construction from 51,000 vendors, most of which are located in Ontario.
Learn how to become one of these vendors:
https://www.doingbusiness.mgs.gov.on.ca/
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.
Quick Facts
- Annually, Ontario government ministries procure approximately $6 billion worth of goods, services and construction.
- On average, the government does business with 52,000 vendors annually.
- This is part of an investment of more than $500 million over three years in new initiatives for small businesses, including lowering the small business tax rate by 22 per cent from 4.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, new financial supports to help small businesses hire youth, investments to revitalize downtown and main street business areas, and cutting red tape.
Additional Resources
- Doing business with the Ontario government
- Ontario Tenders Portal
- Registry, Appraisal and Qualification System
April 11, 2018, Small Business
Source: https://news.ontario.ca/sb/en/2018/04/ontario-eliminates-fees-on-government-procurement-opportunities.html
