# 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 a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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)

Normalized Canadian government procurement tenders from **official open-data sources only** — no login required, no scraping, no ToS risk.

### 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 (purchasing.alberta.ca) | 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 (gov.mb.ca/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": "2026-07-18",
  "maxRecords": 500
}
```

### 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.

# 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

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Canada Government Tenders - Federal + Quebec Open Data",
        "description": "The procurement data MERX charges $30-160/month for, free from official open-data portals. Normalized federal CanadaBuys tenders (all departments) plus Quebec SEAO in one schema. Filter by keyword, date, status. No login, commercial use permitted.",
        "version": "1.0",
        "x-build-id": "xINQGO5a8EJ9LRfqw"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/agentumgroup~ca-tenders/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-agentumgroup-ca-tenders",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/agentumgroup~ca-tenders/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-agentumgroup-ca-tenders",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/agentumgroup~ca-tenders/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-agentumgroup-ca-tenders",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "jurisdictions": {
                        "title": "Jurisdictions",
                        "uniqueItems": true,
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "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.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "federal",
                                "qc"
                            ],
                            "enumTitles": [
                                "Federal (CanadaBuys — all departments)",
                                "Quebec (SEAO)"
                            ]
                        },
                        "default": [
                            "federal",
                            "qc"
                        ]
                    },
                    "status": {
                        "title": "Tender status filter",
                        "enum": [
                            "open",
                            "all"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Filter by tender status. 'open' = only active tenders still accepting bids (recommended for most use cases). 'all' = open + recently closed/awarded.",
                        "default": "open"
                    },
                    "postedAfter": {
                        "title": "Posted after (YYYY-MM-DD)",
                        "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "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": {
                        "title": "Keywords filter",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "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": {
                        "title": "Max records total",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 50000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of tender records to push across all jurisdictions. Default 500; increase for bulk runs.",
                        "default": 500
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```