Department launches electronic tendering initiative

Works, Services and Transportation Minister Jim Walsh announced today, that as of March 10, his department will offer information on Government Purchasing Agency goods and services tenders through the provincial government Web site.

In an effort to make it easier for potential bidders to obtain tendering information, the Department of Works, Services and Transportation will offer the service free of charge. Information will be available on goods and services tenders valued at $2,500 and greater.

"This Web site will be of great benefit to potential bidders," said Minister Walsh. "Suppliers can visit our Web site directly, browse and download tender documents and we will charge no fee for providing that service."

In addition to accessing the information through the Works, Services and Transportation Web site, bidders will still be able to obtain the packages through service providers with value-added features. Since 1999, government has been releasing tendering information through four licensed service providers. The service providers received the information through an electronic feed and acted as a third party to provide information to suppliers. Following the launch of the new electronic service, government will continue to feed the information directly to service providers for the next three months. After this period, service providers will be able to download the information from the government site and re-package it for value-added services.

"By continuing to offer the feed, we are giving the service providers time to adjust their services to suit the change. The providers can also download directly from our Web site and re-package the tender information in order to provide value-added services to the supplier community," said Minister Walsh.

Tender information is available at www.gov.nl.ca/tenders

Media contact: Lynn Evans, Communications, (709) 729-3015.

2003 03 07                                        4:35 p.m.