Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
The Canada-EU trade agreement. Its procurement chapter requires covered Canadian public buyers to openly compete contracts above set value thresholds and gives EU suppliers non-discriminatory access.
Definition
CETA is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union, applied provisionally since 2017. Its government procurement chapter commits Canadian federal, provincial, territorial, and many municipal and broader-public-sector entities to open covered procurements above specified monetary thresholds to suppliers from the EU on a non-discriminatory basis, with reciprocal access for Canadian suppliers to EU public contracts. For cleaning and facilities services, CETA is one of several trade agreements that determine whether a given tender must be openly advertised and competed rather than directed to a domestic supplier.
How it works in Canadian procurement
When a procurement's estimated value exceeds the CETA threshold for the entity type and category, the buyer must follow open, transparent, non-discriminatory procedures: public posting, adequate time to bid, objective evaluation criteria, and access to a bid-challenge mechanism. Thresholds are expressed in special drawing rights and republished in Canadian dollars every two years, with services thresholds higher than goods and sub-central entities differing from federal. CETA coverage sits alongside the domestic Canadian Free Trade Agreement and other international agreements; a buyer applies whichever agreements cover the procurement. Most routine cleaning contracts fall below the international thresholds and are governed mainly by the domestic CFTA, but large multi-site or multi-year facilities contracts can exceed them.
Common confusions
CETA does not require buyers to award to foreign suppliers; it requires them not to discriminate against covered suppliers and to run an open process above threshold. It also does not eliminate every domestic preference; certain set-asides and below-threshold procurements remain outside coverage. Finally, CETA is distinct from the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and the CPTPP; they overlap in purpose but have different parties, thresholds, and coverage schedules, and a single large tender can be subject to more than one at once.
Frequently asked questions
The procurement chapter of the Canada-EU trade agreement. It requires covered Canadian public buyers to run open, non-discriminatory competitions above set value thresholds and gives EU suppliers access to those contracts.
Usually not. Most routine cleaning contracts fall below the international thresholds and are governed mainly by the domestic Canadian Free Trade Agreement. Large multi-site facilities contracts can exceed CETA thresholds.
In special drawing rights, converted and republished in Canadian dollars every two years. Services and goods have different thresholds, and sub-central entities differ from federal.
Related terms
- Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA): The domestic agreement opening government procurement among the provinces and the federal government above set thresholds.
- Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP): A multi-country Pacific trade agreement whose procurement chapter opens covered Canadian government contracts above set thresholds to suppliers from member economies.
- What Is a Tender: A tender is a formal invitation by a public-sector buyer for suppliers to submit competitive bids for goods or services.
- Request for Proposal (RFP): A formal procurement notice used by Canadian government buyers to solicit competitive bids for goods or services of every kind, from professional services and construction to IT, facilities, and cleaning contracts.
See Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) terms in real Canadian government contracts
Wonable tracks every Canadian government procurement and surfaces the patterns behind awards, renewals, and incumbents.
Start free