The Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive sets the rules that hospitals, school boards, colleges, universities, and many other publicly funded Ontario organizations follow when they buy services, including cleaning. If you bid on their contracts, these rules shape what your proposal has to contain.
A few things worth knowing:
Competitive procurement is required above set thresholds
Lower-value purchases can be done more simply, but once a contract crosses the directive's thresholds, the organization has to run an open, competitive process. Most government cleaning contracts you would want fall into this bracket.
The rules favour fairness and documentation
Buyers must evaluate every bid against the criteria they published, treat all bidders the same, and keep records. For you, that means the mandatory requirements in the tender are exactly that. Miss one and you are out, regardless of price.
Mandatory submission requirements are common
Expect to provide proof of WSIB coverage, liability insurance, health and safety policies, relevant certifications, and references. These are pass or fail. A strong price does not save a bid that is missing a required document.
Evaluation is usually scored
Buyers weight price against things like experience, staffing plan, quality control, and references. Knowing the weighting before you write tells you where to spend your effort.
The specifics vary by organization and by tender, so always read the actual document. wonable reads it for you and flags the mandatory items up front.