For a French-speaking IT consultancy, western Switzerland and Quebec are the two most natural foreign public markets: work happens in French, public administrations have significant IT needs, and buyers publish on official, open platforms. Neither goes through TED, the Official Journal of the European Union, so you need to know where to look.
Switzerland: simap.ch
In Switzerland, public tenders from the federal government, the cantons and the municipalities are published on simap.ch, the shared official platform. It lists calls for tender, prior notices, awards and often the tender documents themselves; more and more bids are submitted directly on the platform.
A few things to know:
- Three languages, sometimes four: a notice may be published in German, French or Italian depending on the buyer. The French-speaking cantons (Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Valais, Jura) and part of the federal tenders publish in French; elsewhere German dominates. The language of the bid is stated in the notice.
- Procedures: open, selective, by invitation and single-source, depending on the amount and type of contract.
- Amounts are in Swiss francs.
- CPV codes are the same as in Europe: division 72 (IT services) remains the right entry point.
Canada: CanadaBuys for federal tenders
The Canadian federal government publishes its tenders on CanadaBuys, which replaced the former Buyandsell site. Notices are bilingual, in English and French. Canada uses its own goods and services classification (GSIN) and the international UNSPSC codes rather than European CPV codes.
Two notice types deserve attention:
- Requests for information: the buyer sounds out the market before launching a tender, the equivalent of a prior information notice.
- Advance contract award notices (ACAN): the buyer announces its intention to award the contract to a specific supplier. Another supplier can still come forward before the closing date by showing it can meet the requirement, but the contract is earmarked.
Quebec: SEAO
In Quebec, ministries, public bodies, municipalities and the health and education networks publish their tenders on SEAO, the Quebec government's electronic tendering system. Everything is in French. The Secrétariat du Conseil du trésor also publishes these notices as open data every week.
Before bidding on a Quebec contract, read the documents carefully: depending on the type and amount of the contract, the buyer may require prior authorization from the Autorité des marchés publics, a presence in Quebec, or conditions specific to the organization. These requirements are stated in the tender documents.
Why a European IT consultancy can bid
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union and Canada (CETA) opens part of Canadian federal and provincial public procurement to European suppliers above certain thresholds. Switzerland applies the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. In both cases, the notice lists the applicable trade agreements: that is the first thing to check.
With StaffKit
StaffKit's public tender watch now covers Switzerland (simap.ch) and Canada (CanadaBuys for federal tenders, SEAO for Quebec), on top of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Germany and Austria (through TED) and the United Kingdom (through Find a Tender). Twice a day, IT notices are collected, sorted and scored by AI, summarised in French, with amounts in their original currency.
In "My markets", you choose the countries where your company bids, for example the French-speaking zone: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Canada. The choice is saved on your account. Canadian advance contract award notices are hidden by default and can be shown with a single checkbox.
Details are on the IT public tender watch page.