Index › FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Eight questions, answered with October 2026 release figures and links to the underlying series.
Questions the release data actually answers. Every figure cited is computed from the October 2026 corpus; each answer links to the page carrying the underlying series.
How large is federal contracting?
The corpus holds 1,313,281 published federal award records above the $10,000 threshold since 2004, totalling $1.21T. Awards average about 57,099 a year; annual value peaked at $112.7B in 2017. The full series is on the federal page.
What share of federal contracts is awarded without competition?
Among records carrying a procedure label, 29.3% are recorded as awarded without an open competitive process. The rate fell from 32.8% in 2015 to 23.7% in 2018, then rose back to 32.7% in 2026. See the no-tender series.
Why do so many Quebec tenders receive only one bid?
Across 405,956 tenders with named bidders since 2021, 67.4% closed with a single offer. The rate is category-driven: works tenders average 3.14 bidders and a 34.6% single-bid rate, while services average 1.78 bidders with 75.4% single-bid. The competition page breaks this down.
Which federal department awards the most?
National Defence: $471.4B of lifetime value — 38.9% of the total — across 362,845 records. The top five awarding organizations account for 78.7%. Full table on the departments page.
How concentrated are federal vendors?
The 100 highest-value vendors win 62.6% of all contract value on 12.8% of awards, while 87.2% of awards go to the other 183,024 registered suppliers. PARSONS INC, the largest single vendor, holds 3.2% of lifetime value. Details on the vendors page.
Where does the data come from?
Official public records: the Treasury Board Secretariat Proactive Publication for federal awards, Quebec public tender notices as published on SEAO for bidder-level data, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal registry for challenges, and BC public award notices. Records are normalized into a single compiled corpus and every series is recomputed at each release. See methodology.
Is the 2026 data complete?
No. 2026 is a partial year covering records published through the compilation cut-off of 3 October 2026 — 39,034 federal awards worth $10.9B so far. Partial years are marked on every chart and remain provisional until the following release.
What is a bid challenge, and how many are there?
A bid challenge is a complaint to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal alleging a federal procurement breached trade-agreement rules. The registry holds 2,043 documents since 1990; dated complaints from 2000 onward average 69 a year, peaking at 108 in 2020. The challenges page has the series.