# Canada Government Tenders - Federal + Quebec Open Data (`agentumgroup/ca-tenders`) Actor

The procurement data MERX charges $30-160/month for, free from official open-data portals. Normalized federal CanadaBuys tenders (all departments) plus Quebec SEAO in one schema. Filter by keyword, date, status. No login, commercial use permitted.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/agentumgroup/ca-tenders.md
- **Developed by:** [AgentumGroup](https://apify.com/agentumgroup) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Canada Tenders — Federal + Quebec (Open Data)

The procurement data MERX charges $30–160/month for — normalized from official Canadian open-data portals, free to access. No login required, no scraping, no ToS risk.

Covers **federal CanadaBuys tenders** (all departments, all provinces) and **Quebec SEAO** in one consistent schema.

### Quickstart (30 seconds)

1. Click **Try for free** above — no credit card required for your first run.
2. Leave the default input (federal + QC, open tenders, up to 500 records) and click **Start**.
3. Download results as JSON, CSV, or connect via the Apify API.

**Typical first run:** ~850 federal + up to 500 Quebec tenders in under 30 seconds.

For a daily-diff workflow, set `postedAfter` to yesterday and schedule daily — you get only new tenders added in the past 24 hours.

### What this Actor does

Fetches and normalizes tender/procurement notices from multiple Canadian jurisdictions into a single, consistent schema. Every field is sourced from official government open-data portals licensed under open government licences.

### Covered jurisdictions

| Jurisdiction | Source | Feed type | Typical volume | Update frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Federal** | [CanadaBuys](https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/6abd20d4-7a1c-4b38-baa2-9525d0bb2fd2) | Open CSV (PSPC daily export) | ~850 open tenders | Daily |
| **Quebec (QC)** | [SEAO via Données Québec](https://www.donneesquebec.ca/recherche/dataset/systeme-electronique-dappel-doffres-seao) | OCDS JSON (weekly) | ~5,000 releases/week | Weekly |

#### Dropped sources and reasons

| Portal | Reason dropped |
|---|---|
| BC Bid | Login-walled; redirects to session-required pages |
| Alberta Purchasing Connection | Cloudflare-protected; no public API or open-data feed |
| SaskTenders | No accessible public JSON/API endpoint (ASP.NET session redirect) |
| Ontario Tenders (etenders.ca) | Session-required login system |
| Manitoba Tenders | No structured open-data feed; HTML only |
| NS / NB / PEI / NL | No dedicated open-data procurement portal found |

Federal (CanadaBuys) covers all federal departments across every province, which represents a significant majority of Canadian public procurement value. Quebec's SEAO is the largest provincial portal with a clean OCDS open-data feed.

### Use cases

- **Contractors finding bids** — monitor for new tenders in your category and region; schedule the Actor daily with `postedAfter` set to yesterday
- **Bid-intelligence platforms** — build searchable procurement databases covering federal + provincial
- **AI procurement agents** — feed tender notices to AI agents that match opportunities to vendor capabilities; the normalized schema makes this plug-and-play
- **Vendor pipeline management** — filter by `keywords` for your industry, track `closingDate` urgency
- **Market research** — analyze government spending categories, procurement methods, and buying departments

### Input schema

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `jurisdictions` | `string[]` | `["federal","qc"]` | Which jurisdictions to fetch. Valid: `federal`, `qc` |
| `status` | `string` | `"open"` | `"open"` = active tenders only; `"all"` = open + recently closed/awarded |
| `postedAfter` | `string` (YYYY-MM-DD) | `null` | Only include tenders published on or after this date |
| `keywords` | `string` | `null` | Comma-separated keyword filter on title + description (case-insensitive) |
| `maxRecords` | `integer` | `500` | Maximum total records across all jurisdictions |

### Output schema

Each record in the dataset:

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "Federal",
  "tenderId": "AR26SLHX_86026",
  "referenceNumber": "MX-443841357513",
  "solicitationNumber": "AR26SLHX_86026",
  "title": "Open Construction Source List for CFB Halifax",
  "org": "Defence Construction Canada - Atlantic Region",
  "category": "*CNST",
  "region": "Nova Scotia",
  "noticeType": null,
  "procurementMethod": "Competitive - Open bidding",
  "postedDate": "2026-01-23",
  "closingDate": "2029-03-31",
  "value": null,
  "status": "Open",
  "url": "https://www.merx.com/public/solicitations/3776296409/abstract?language=EN",
  "description": "Defence Construction Canada (DCC) is inviting contractors...",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-07-19T20:00:00.000Z",
  "raw": { "...": "trimmed source fields" }
}
```

#### Field notes

- `value` — estimated contract value if published at notice stage. CanadaBuys does not publish this at notice stage (null); SEAO includes it when available.
- `description` — truncated to 500 characters from source.
- `raw` — shallow key-value copy of source fields, long strings truncated to 400 chars, geometry/personal fields removed.
- `status` — Federal: `"Open"` / `"Closed"` / `"Awarded"`. QC (SEAO/OCDS): `"active"` / `"complete"` / `"cancelled"`.

### Scheduling for daily-diff workflow

Set `postedAfter` to yesterday's date and schedule the Actor daily. This gives you only new tenders added in the last 24 hours:

```json
{
  "jurisdictions": ["federal", "qc"],
  "status": "open",
  "postedAfter": "2026-07-19",
  "maxRecords": 500
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result on the Apify platform:

| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Per run (start fee) | $0.01 |
| Per record returned | $0.002 |

**Worked examples:**

- 500 tenders (1 run): $0.01 + (500 × $0.002) = **$1.01**
- 1,000 tenders (1 run): $0.01 + (1,000 × $0.002) = **$2.01**
- Daily schedule, ~100 new tenders/day: $0.01 + (100 × $0.002) = **$0.21/day** (~$6.30/month)

Compare: MERX subscriptions start at $30–160/month for access to much of the same federal data.

### Legal / ToS

All data sourced from:

- [Open Government Licence – Canada](https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
- [Licence ouverte – Québec](https://www.donneesquebec.ca/fr/licence/)

Both are permissive open licences allowing commercial use with attribution. No robots.txt violations; no login bypass; no personal data.

### Data freshness

- **CanadaBuys** refreshes its open-CSV exports daily. The `openTenderNotice` CSV always reflects the current set of open tenders.
- **SEAO** publishes weekly OCDS JSON files. The Actor automatically fetches the most recent weekly file from the Données Québec CKAN API.

### FAQ

**How fresh is the data?**
Federal (CanadaBuys) is updated daily. Quebec (SEAO) is updated weekly. The Actor fetches the latest available file on every run.

**Is it legal to use this commercially?**
Yes. Both sources are published under permissive open-government licences that explicitly permit copying and commercial use with attribution.

**Why aren't BC, Ontario, Alberta, etc. covered?**
Those provincial portals are login-walled or have no accessible open-data feed (see the "Dropped sources" table above). We'll add provinces as they become accessible.

**Who do I contact for support?**
Email manager@agentumgroup.com — typically replied to within 1 business day.

# Actor input Schema

## `jurisdictions` (type: `array`):

Which jurisdictions to fetch tenders from. Each is backed by its official open-data feed. 'federal' covers all federal departments via CanadaBuys; 'qc' covers Quebec via SEAO open data.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Filter by tender status. 'open' = only active tenders still accepting bids (recommended for most use cases). 'all' = open + recently closed/awarded.

## `postedAfter` (type: `string`):

Only include tenders published on or after this date. Set to last week's date and schedule the Actor for a daily-diff workflow.

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

Optional comma-separated keywords. Only tenders whose title or description contains at least one keyword are returned (case-insensitive). Example: 'construction, IT services, consulting'

## `maxRecords` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of tender records to push across all jurisdictions. Default 500; increase for bulk runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "jurisdictions": [
    "federal",
    "qc"
  ],
  "status": "open",
  "maxRecords": 500
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "jurisdictions": [
        "federal",
        "qc"
    ],
    "status": "open",
    "maxRecords": 500
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("agentumgroup/ca-tenders").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "jurisdictions": [
        "federal",
        "qc",
    ],
    "status": "open",
    "maxRecords": 500,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("agentumgroup/ca-tenders").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "jurisdictions": [
    "federal",
    "qc"
  ],
  "status": "open",
  "maxRecords": 500
}' |
apify call agentumgroup/ca-tenders --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=agentumgroup/ca-tenders",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bDCpZk3NMEdpL4z6V/builds/JW6a5nSrAilXMCTwU/openapi.json