Procurement

Loyalist Township procures goods, services and construction in accordance with the Township's Purchasing By-law . We are committed to buying the best products and services at the best value, so that we can provide that value to all of our residents and stakeholders. We want to set standards of excellence within the municipal sector.

Current Procurement Opportunities

Information regarding current and past procurement opportunities can be found on the Township’s Procurement Portal.

Become a Vendor for the Township

The Township employs various methods to procure goods, services and construction in accordance with the Procurement By-law. We make every effort to contract with vendors that have the capability to meet the needs of the Township providing quality goods, services and construction at competitive prices.

Procurement methods include, but are not limited too, Tenders, Request for Proposals, Quotations and Non-Standard methods.

Purchasing staff work with procuring departments to determine the procurement method to be used, taking into consideration factors such as:

Obtaining a favourable price
The nature and importance of the potential purchase
The urgency of the requirement
General trade practices and market conditions

Steps to Become a Vendor for the Township

The steps below will walk you through the process involved in becoming a vendor for the Township of Loyalist. These include where to find bidding requirements and potential next steps.

Step 1 – Where can I find the opportunities?

The Township wants to ensure that Vendors are able to access our procurement opportunities.

The Township advertises procurement opportunities on the Loyalist website with direct links to the e-bidding platform, Bonfire.

Bonfire is a quick, easy and convenient electronic procurement portal which allows vendors to view, download and submit bids/proposals at any time without registration costs. Bonfire is 100% free for Vendors, though they do offer enhanced subscriptions for a fee.

Bonfire offers a brief Vendor Registration & Submission Overview video to learn more about registering for a free account and creating bid submissions.

How can I make sure that I will be advised of opportunities that align with my business?

When registering with Bonfire you are able to opportunity match by identifying specific Commodity Codes as well as Service Regions. When you attach Commodity Codes to your profile, the Bonfire system will generate an email known as an Opportunity Notification, to notify you that your services may be applicable to subsequent projects. Emails will provide you with the names of the opportunities and link you directly to the Project Details page.

Currently Bonfire supports UNSPSC (default) commodity codes.

Step 2 - The bidding process

The bidding process for becoming a vendor is fair, open, and transparent, and all vendors are treated equally.

All Township procurement documents are laid out in the same manner for ease of reference for vendors:

Part 1 – Invitation and Submission Instructions
Part 2 – Evaluation and Award
Part 3 – Terms and Conditions of the process
Appendix A – Form of Agreement
Appendix B – Particulars of the Project or Service
- Deliverables
- Material Disclosures
- Mandatory Submission Requirements
- Mandatory Technical Requirements
- Pre-conditions of Award – Such as Insurance and WSIB documents
- Price Evaluation Method
- Evaluation Criteria (if applicable)
- Appendix C – Submission Form

Vendors should ensure they read and understand the contents of the procurement document and may direct questions or seek additional information in writing through the bidding system on or before the deadline for questions.

The procurement documents will explain in detail:

How to lay out your submission
How it will be evaluated
Mandatory and other requirements (vary by procurement)
Weighting of areas to be scored (for example, experience or product performance)
Do not assume that because you have dealt with the Township previously that it knows your organization and skills. Each bid is unique and will be evaluated solely on its content.

Step 3 - What happens with your bid?

Bids are evaluated by a key staff who have knowledge of the project/service and potential users of the goods and services required.

Bids will be evaluated based on the requirements and steps outlined within the procurement document.

Successful bidders will be notified to execute the agreement or contract award.

Award Notifications

Only Tender (RFT/ITT) procurements will have tentative/unofficial results posted on the bidding system, in the same manner as advertised. Other procurement method results will not be posted on the bidding system until after contract/agreement signing.

The name of the successful bidder, term of the contract and total bid price can be provided upon request.

The contract

A successful vendor requires a contract for all procurements. The contract includes:

responsibilities of the vendor and the buyer
description of how the vendor’s performance will be evaluated
a termination clause

Unsuccessful bids

We are committed to fairness and transparency throughout the procurement process.

Debriefing

At the end of a procurement, we will endeavour let you know if your bid was successful, or not.

You may then reach out to the procurement contact to request a debrief within 30 days. This debrief may give you the following feedback:

who won
the total bid price
how your response ranked relative to other responses
strengths and weaknesses of your bid
how to improve future bids

Note: we will not share any information regarding a bidder's per-unit pricing.

Procurement Protest

If you still have a concern about the fairness of the procurement process, after the debrief, you may file a Procurement Protest.

To file a Procurement Protest the vendor will provide a written notice which must contain:

(a) a clear statement as to which procurement the proponent wishes to challenge;

(b) a clear explanation of the proponent’s concerns with the procurement, including specifics as to why it disagrees with the procurement process or its outcome; and

The Township will send an initial response to acknowledge receipt of the proponent’s notice and indicate the date by which the Township will provide the proponent with a formal response.

Step 4 - How you’re paid as a vendor

Vendors to the Township are paid according to the contract's terms and after the invoice and the receipt for goods or services are received.

Unofficial Results

The unofficial results of publicly-opened tenders will be posted on the Township's procurement portal on the following business day after the tender closing. No results will be given by phone or email before this time.

Results of Requests for Proposal and Requests for Quotation will not be posted on this page after closing, as they are frequently subject to careful review and/or a scoring process to determine the successful proponent.

Helpful Documents

Contact Us

For any questions regarding purchasing or procurement, please contact our Corporate Procurement Specialist at 613-386-7351, ext. 133#.