Bidding on Government Contracts: Tips for Small Businesses

WeBC has partnered with Procurement Assistance Canada (PAC) to help you explore the possibility of selling to a major client—The Government of Canada!

Whether you’re a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation, have 1 employee or 500 employees, selling a product or service, the federal government is the largest purchaser in all of Canada, and the majority of the goods and services they purchase are from small and medium businesses like yourself.

Understanding the wide variety of products and services that the government purchases, and the step-by-step process, will improve your bidding strategies and help you save time.

Join WeBC and PAC for this interactive series to learn:

•  How to identify the contracts that best suit your product or service
•  Step-by-step instructions on the bidding process
•  How to strategically bid on government contracts so you improve your odds of success
•  How to avoid common mistakes bidders make
•  Bidding best practices
• How and when to ask questions
• How real business owners have successfully bid on government contracts

Sessions are on Thursdays from 10am to 11am PT:

• July 13 | Get to Know Procurement: Is It Right for You?
• July 27 | Small Business Bidding: Tour the New Website
• August 10 | Bidding Best Practices: Strong Strategies for Small Business
• August 24 | Strong Bid, Smart Growth: How to Supply Goods and Services to Government

Facilitator: Cathy Burrell, Entrepreneur in Residence, WeBC

Open to everyone!

A recording will be available after each of the live sessions.

Who is this for?
This introductory-level series is for anyone who is curious about the possibility of selling their product or service to the government in the form of a large, ongoing contract. It is suitable for businesses of any size and for those who provide both products and services.

All registrants will be offered a one-on-one meeting to discuss specifics relating to their business.

Closed-captioning will be provided for the webinar. ASL interpretation available by request. Please contact us to request an interpreter.

Included in the series

Session 1: July 13 | Get to Know Procurement: Is It Right for You?

This session will introduce you to the concept of selling to the Government of Canada and the IDEaS (Innovation for Defense Excellence and Security) program. We’ll break down the procurement process and IDEaS program into easy-to-understand nuggets of information. By the end of the session, you should have a clear idea of whether your product or service is, or could be a match for federal procurement.

Session 2: July 27 | Small Business Bidding: Tour the Website

This session will explore the authoritative website for Government of Canada procurement, CanadaBuys.Canada.ca. You will discover opportunities and learn to search for federal government tenders, contract history, and to register in the electronic procurement solution.

Session 3: August 10 | Bidding Best Practices: Strong Strategies for Small Business

Watch the procurement process in real time through the lens of a Government of Canada Contracting Officer/Technical Authority, and evaluate sample bids against criteria from a fictitious tender, or RFP. You’ll see what makes a bid stand out and what common mistakes to avoid so you can improve your bidding strategy and make better use of your time.

Session 4: August 24 | Strong Bid, Smart Growth: How to Supply Goods and Services to Government

Join WeBC and Procurement Assistance Canada (PAC) for an interactive panel discussion to learn about supplying goods and services to Government. Hear from real business owners who will share their own experiences with the procurement process and how they’ve achieved success with contracting processes.