EU Wants All-Access Pass to Canadian Procurement

(Embassy – Laura Payton)

Confidential European briefing notes show a desire to bid on contracts with utilities, port and airport authorities

European Union negotiators want access to procurement competitions in an extensive list of Canadian cities, utilities and Crown corporations in a market they estimate is worth $86 billion, according to confidential EU briefing notes provided to Embassy.

The documents, including the EU’s “initial market access request to Canada,” dated December 2009, detail some of what the trading bloc is seeking in opening up bilateral trade, investment and labour mobility. And when it comes to government procurement, they want it all.

“All central government entities and all other central public entities,” should be open to contracting European goods and services, the request says, pointing to the federal level. At the provincial and territorial level, the request is similar: “All sub-central government entities including those operating at the local, regional or municipal level.”

That includes, for example, opening up bidding for goods and services for the Prime Minister’s Office, the House of Commons, the Senate, Elections Canada, the Library of Parliament and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada. Two of the government’s biggest buyers, Public Works and Government Services Canada and Transport Canada, are also on the list. Read more here.