Selling IT to the BC government

British Columbia has one of Canada's most approachable public sectors for small tech firms, thanks to its agile-friendly digital procurement and a portal where most public bodies post.

BC Bid

BC Bid is the province's main tender portal, used by ministries, Crown corporations, health authorities, school districts, universities and many municipalities. Register to receive notifications and submit bids electronically.

The Digital Marketplace

The BC Developers' Exchange runs the Digital Marketplace, built for agile digital work:

• Code With Us: fixed-price opportunities for individual developers or small firms to complete specific coding tasks, often on open-source code. A good first step for small firms.
• Sprint With Us: procures agile teams for digital products, with a short written proposal, a code challenge and a team scenario. Contracts can run for several phases.
• Team With Us: procures individual resources to join government digital teams.

These opportunities favour practical skill over long proposals and are well suited to small firms. See describing agile delivery in a bid.

Corporate supply arrangements

Many common IT services, such as IT consulting and project management, are bought through corporate supply arrangements (CSAs), pre-qualified lists set up by the province and refreshed periodically.

The Procurement Concierge Program

This program lets suppliers bring innovative ideas to the government, and helps ministries explore them. See unsolicited proposals.

Privacy and data

BC's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) used to require personal information held by public bodies to be stored and accessed only in Canada. Since 2021, public bodies can disclose personal information outside Canada if they meet assessment requirements, so non-Canadian hosting is possible but not automatic. Expect buyers to ask detailed data residency questions.

Trade agreements

The New West Partnership Trade Agreement between BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, set thresholds above which contracts must be openly competed.

See also selling IT to government in Canada.

Common questions

What is BC Bid?

It's British Columbia's public sector tender portal, used by provincial ministries and many other public bodies across BC.

What is Code With Us?

It's a BC government Digital Marketplace program that pays developers a fixed price to complete specific, defined pieces of code.

Can BC public bodies use cloud services hosted outside Canada?

Since 2021, they can in some cases, after completing the assessments the privacy law requires. Many still prefer Canadian hosting.