Procurement Ombud Supports Increased Use of Negotiated Requests for Proposals (NRFPs)
News release
Ottawa, Ontario – May 26, 2025
As part of his commitment to provide solutions to longstanding procurement issues, the Procurement Ombud released a new Knowledge Deepening and Sharing study on the benefits of Negotiated Requests for Proposals (NRFPs) for government contracts.
Unlike traditional tendering formats which follow a rigid process with very limited flexibility, NRFPs allow suppliers to negotiate some aspects of the contract (i.e., proposed solution or approach to the work and the associated bid price) after proposals have been submitted and evaluated.
Widely used by many Canadian provinces and municipalities and other countries, the NRFP format has proven to be a promising alternative to traditional procurement processes. Due to its flexibility, it has contributed to improved competition, better solutions and the achievement of Best Value procurements.
As the traditional tendering format used in federal procurement continues to create significant challenges for both government entities and bidders, the report calls for senior procurement officials to consider using NRFPs in certain contexts (e.g., more complex procurements) as a way to simplify procurement processes, make them more cost-effective for taxpayers and increase competition.
Quotes
“NRFP is an underutilized tool that federal procurement buyers have at their disposal to simplify and improve the overly complex procurement process. We hope this report will convince senior officials to use the NRFP format more broadly to get the Best Value for taxpayers.”
Alexander Jeglic
Procurement Ombud
Quick facts
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The Office of the Procurement Ombud was established to promote fairness, openness and transparency in federal procurement.
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In 2018, OPO launched the Knowledge Deepening and Sharing initiative to provide better understanding of key issues in procurement.
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OPO has published 12 reports to date, including the latest one on Negotiated Requests for Proposals (NRFP).
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Negotiated Requests for Proposals (NRFP) is an alternative approach to tendering that allows more flexibility to procurement processes, improves competition and can help achieve Best Value especially for more complex procurement projects.
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OPO previously released a study on the concept of Best Value in procurement in its continued efforts to disseminate knowledge about best practices to address recurrent issues in federal procurement.
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Office of the Procurement Ombud
Phone: 613‑947‑9755
Email: MediaBOA.OPOMedia@boa-opo.gc.ca