Ontario Bid Portals Explained: Ontario Tenders Portal, bids&tenders, Biddingo and MERX
Ontario ministries, cities and hospitals use four different systems. Here is which buyer is where, and what each one costs.
At a glance
- Cost
- Ontario Tenders Portal is free. bids&tenders is $549 to $1,999 a year for paid agencies. Biddingo is $30 a bid. MERX depends on the buyer.
- Time
- Minutes per portal
- What you need
- Your CRA business number
- UNSPSC codes for what you sell
- One senior person to act as account administrator
Step by step
Register on the Ontario Tenders Portal
All Ontario ministries post on the Ontario Tenders Portal, which runs on Jaggaer, and so do broader public sector bodies that have onboarded to it. Registration is free and takes about five minutes. You need an account to download documents and receive addenda.
One senior person registers as administrator and adds colleagues as sub-users. Choose UNSPSC codes in your profile: they drive the alert emails, and without them you get none.
Ministry of Transportation road construction bids go through a separate system (RAQs), not the portal.
Create a bids&tenders account for municipalities
Most large Ontario municipalities and regions take bids on bids&tenders. Each buyer has its own subdomain, such as oakville.bidsandtenders.ca, but one supplier account works on all of them. To download documents and receive addenda, you register for each bid as a plan taker.
Viewing is free. For paid agencies you need a plan: Local $549 a year (up to 10 agencies), Growth $999 (20) or Pro $1,999 (unlimited). An agency is added to your plan when you first register for one of its bids. Agencies marked free stay free and do not count toward your limit.
Check whether an agency is free before registering for its bid, so you do not use up a plan slot.
Add Biddingo for hospitals and some public bodies
Hospital buying groups Mohawk Medbuy and HealthPRO post on Biddingo, along with some municipalities, colleges, school boards and universities. Biddingo charges $30 per bid plus any document fees the buyer sets, or an annual subscription whose price is not published.
Check MERX for the remaining buyers
Some broader public sector buyers still use MERX. MERX is free for buyers that pay for supplier access; for the rest, Premium plans start at about $50 a month billed annually for one province. MERX requires a credit card to register.
Register with OECM if you sell to education
OECM runs group contracts for Ontario schools, colleges, universities and other public bodies. Since May 29, 2026 its solicitations are on Euna Procurement (Bonfire). Registration is free, but even if you already have a Euna account you must register through OECM’s own portal link.
Why you need more than CanadaBuys in Ontario
Ontario municipal tenders rarely reach CanadaBuys. When Cothon compared open notices on September 23, 2026, only 9% of Ontario municipal notices had been republished there, compared with 93% of BC Bid notices. If you sell to Ontario cities, their own portals are the only reliable source.
How long Ontario tenders stay open
Under the Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive in force since April 13, 2026, goods and services competitions from $139,000 up to $368,000 must stay open at least 15 calendar days. Above the CETA threshold, international rules require longer. Use the threshold checker for a specific contract.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Ontario Tenders Portal free?
Yes. Registering and downloading documents cost nothing, and registration takes about five minutes.
How much does bids&tenders cost?
Creating an account and viewing bids is free. To take part in bids from paid agencies you need a plan: $549 a year for up to 10 agencies, $999 for 20 or $1,999 for unlimited agencies. Some agencies are free for suppliers.
Where do Ontario hospitals post tenders?
Mostly on Biddingo, through the Mohawk Medbuy and HealthPRO buying groups, and on the Ontario Tenders Portal for hospitals that have onboarded to it.
Sources
Registered? Now find the tenders.
Cothon watches every portal in this guide, and the ones it does not cover, in one feed in English and French, and shows who wins and at what price.