While working for the BC Government, and only slightly less so as a consultant, I spent a good amount of time replying to vendors 'requesting' a copy of my RFP as they had received a notification through a third-party 'bid matching' subscription service. I also had a number of these subscription services email me asking for the winning bidder names.
The problem I had with these enquiries was the fact people were PAYING for information that was already available, free, online. The BC Government provided a list of bid sites for vendors to know where to find opportunities across Canada, and only charged fees for e-bidding (a huge time-saver to submit a bid before closing time!) or for matching (email notifications with a link to the document).
SO, I caution vendors from paying for services that are merely taking a 'feed' off the free sites. If you find a value for money from these sites - please, please let me know what you are getting in return!
Bid sites:
www.merx.com - Federal Canada government bids are free for download, private sector and other public sector entity documents are at a fee - majority of provinces are using this service (except British Columbia and Quebec).
www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca - BC Government and BC Public Sector (municipalities, health sector, etc) are available for anonymous download free - there are fees for opt-in services like email notifications and e-bidding. NOTE: you can also get Alberta government postings from this site
www.purchasingconnection.ca - Alberta government and public sector postings available for download free with registration. NOTE: There is a reciprocal agreement to feed these postings to/fr BCBid (due to the Trade, Industry, Labour Mobility Agreement=TILMA). The Alberta postings are ALSO on the merx site.
https://nbon-rpanb.gnb.ca/ - New Brunswick government postings for download free with registration. NOTE: these are also posted on the Merx site.
There are some other provincial sites as well, and municipalities, with a good number posting to merx...I still wonder what benefit is derived from subscription sites if you can find the information by checking only a couple of sites??
I welcome comments!
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