Government procurement summary
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The original NAFTA included rules and market-access commitments that allowed Canadian businesses to access the procurement markets of the United States and Mexico. Canada and the United States subsequently improved upon these commitments in the revised WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), which entered into force in 2014. Going forward, Canada and the United States have agreed to maintain access to each other’s procurement markets via the GPA, in lieu of including bilateral government procurement commitments in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
The GPA includes updated procedural rules that reflect more current procurement practices, such as conducting some of the procurement process online (e.g. electronic tendering) and expanded market-access commitments. For example, the GPA provides Canadian suppliers with access to state-level procurement opportunities in 37 states, including significant markets such as New York State.
Mexico and Canada have commitments on government procurement in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). These include updated procedural rules that reflect more-current procurement practices, such as conducting some of the procurement process online (e.g. electronic tendering). Canada and Mexico will rely on the CPTPP to provide Canadian and Mexican suppliers with access to procurement opportunities in their respective markets.
Technical summary of negotiated outcomes: Government procurement
- By virtue of Canada’s CPTPP and WTO commitments, Canadian businesses across all sectors will continue to be able to compete on a level playing field with domestic suppliers in the United States and Mexico and those from countries that enjoy preferential access to the U.S. and Mexican procurement markets for certain goods, services and construction services.
Canada-United States
- Canada and the United States will rely on the commitments made in the GPA.
- These commitments go significantly beyond those made in the original NAFTA and include access to procurement opportunities in 37 U.S. states.
- Higher GPA thresholds for goods ($237,700 vs. $32,900) and services ($237,700 vs. $106,000) more closely reflect Canada’s access to U.S. procurement opportunities, as U.S. contracts worth less than US$250,000 are reserved exclusively for U.S. small businesses.
- This will provide more flexibility for Canadian procuring entities to develop and implement policies aimed at achieving socio-economic objectives.
Canada-Mexico
- Canada and Mexico will rely on the market access commitments made in the CPTPP, once that agreement comes into force.
- The CPTPP includes updated procedural rules that reflect more-current procurement practices, such as conducting some of the procurement process online (e.g. electronic tendering)
Programs for small and medium-sized enterprises, including Indigenous businesses
- The GPA and the CPTPP both contain an exception that allows Canada to create procurement programs that support small and minority-owned businesses, including Indigenous businesses.
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