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Providing content in Canada’s official languages

The CanadaBuys tendering service acts as a single point of access (SPA) for all public sector procurement activities. This means tender opportunities are coming from many different institutions, some of which are not subject to the Official Languages Act. Because of this, some of the content in the tendering service may only be available in one official language. Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) will work with its partners to provide information in both English and French whenever possible.

Implementing an SPA is an international trade obligation under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

What does this mean for you?

You will see information that is only available in one official language in both the French and English version of tender and award notices. For example, if an institution that is not subject to the Official Languages Act (Act) publishes a tender notice in English only, the English information will appear on the corresponding French page. Or, if they post in French only, the French information will appear on the English page.

In addition, links on CanadaBuys to websites that are not operated by the Government of Canada are not subject to the Act. You may only be able to access the information from these websites in the languages used by those sites. Refer to the Canada.ca Terms and conditions for more information on linking to non-Government of Canada websites.

Applying official languages regulations and policies

Federal institutions using the CanadaBuys platform must follow the Official Languages Act and Treasury Board policy requirements. Federal institutions include the Parliament of Canada, Federal Crown corporations (such as VIA Rail and Canada Post) and Federal departments and agencies. See the definition of federal institution in the act for more information.

According to these requirements, all Web content a Federal institution publishes or is accountable for must be available in both languages. This applies to Web content produced by the institution or on its behalf. Therefore, all tender opportunities from Federal institutions will be available in English and French.

The Official Languages Act does not apply to Provincial, Territorial or Municipal governments, Provincial Crown corporations, publicly funded academic institutions, schools, hospitals, or to private businesses.