Ontario/Building Ontario Businesses Initiative (BOBI)
In Recent News
- BOBI is intended to leverage procurement as an economic development lever. Through regulation, an Ontario Based business is defined as a business headquartered in Ontario, or that has 250 employees in Ontario.
- It is also important to note that second stage procurements such as Vendor of Record arrangements are out of scope.
BOBI has 3 key components:
- New requirement expanding procurement bid evaluations to include social and economic considerations to ensure that Ontario businesses have a greater opportunity at securing these bids.
- Industrial Regional Technology Benefit (IRTB) requirement on contracts valued at over $10M. The IRTB will embed economic development considerations into the procurement process. These considerations would include the investment the winning vendor would make in the province, the jobs it will create or sustain, or how the procurement could spur research and innovation. This adds new criteria to large procurements as the government will be looking to leverage large procurements as economic development levers.
- The third change was passed in the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Actwhich requires public sector buyers to give preference to Ontario businesses under trade thresholds of $10,000.
It is important to note that each of these changes will apply to Ontario Public Sector and Broader Public Sector Organizations, and will include ministries, agencies, hospitals, and school boards.
Ontario Procurement Restriction Policy:
- On April 4th2025, the Government of Ontario introduced a new policy: the Procurement Restriction Policy (U.S. Businesses) in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian products and services. The policy will restrict public sector buyers from procuring goods from U.S. businesses.
- The policy will apply to all ministries, broader public sector organizations, agencies, OPG, and the IESO.
Definition of U.S. Business:
- Under the policy, a U.S. business will be defined as a supplier, manufacturer, or distributer that has it’s headquarters or main office in the United States AND has fewer than 250 employees in Canada at the start of a procurement process. Subsidiaries or American companies are includedin the definition of an American Business.
Application of Policy:
- The new policy will apply to all new procurement of goods and services at any value, on a go forward basis. This includes competitive and non-competitive procurements.
- The new policy will not apply retroactively to any procurement already in progress as of March 4th, existing procurement’s on the street from that time will be unaffected.
- Additionally, existing VOR arrangements will also be exempt from this policy.
Exemptions:
- The policy does provide for an exemption if two conditions are met:
- If the U.S. business is the only viable source of the good or service; and,
- The procurement cannot be delayed
- Any exemption would be at the discretion of a Deputy Minister, Deputy Minister equivalent, or CEO unless a higher level of procurement is required per the OPS procurement directive. Similar exemption rules would apply for the BPS requiring similar levels of signing authority for an exemption.
- If an exemption is granted, the procuring entity must notify Supply Ontario of the decision.