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What does the CPTPP mean for government procurement? 

Summary/overview

Government procurement explained

Governments are often among the largest buyers of goods and services in any country and offer significant potential opportunities for Canadian suppliers. These goods and services vary greatly, including everything from tables and chairs to materials and services used in large infrastructure projects.

Government procurement commitments are part of modern free trade agreements (FTAs) and complement the commitments made in other chapters, such as those concerning tariffs, services and investments. Government procurement commitments expand the market access gains secured elsewhere in an FTA.

Fair, open and transparent rules that promote competition are essential to ensuring that governments obtain the best value for money when spending taxpayer dollars. These rules help to support the primary objective of providing Canadian businesses—including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—with increased opportunities to access government procurement activities in foreign markets.

Key CPTPP provisions

In the CPTPP, the Government Procurement Chapter is broken down into two parts:

The chapter is based on the following core obligations:

Government procurement in the CPTPP

Procurement thresholds

Procurement of goods, services and construction services that fall below certain thresholds is excluded from the obligations of the chapter.

* For additional information on Canada’s government procurement market access commitments under the CPTPP, please see Annex 15-A – Schedule of Canada.

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