1) Summary
Canada is announcing the next steps toward establishing competitive procurement processes that support the Government of Canada’s cloud sovereignty objectives. These sovereign procurements will be complementary to—rather than replacements for—other cloud procurement vehicles that have been or are being competed separately.
This notice is for information only. No response is requested at this time. Detailed solicitation documents and participation instructions will be posted on CanadaBuys as they become available.
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2) Background and RFI Outcomes
Following the Request for Information (RFI) and the subsequent What We Heard report, Shared Services Canada (SSC) has carefully considered industry feedback to refine its approach to a Canadian Sovereign procurement stream for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and native Platform as a Service (PaaS).
Consistent with the RFI, future sovereign cloud solutions must ensure that, at a minimum:
- Canada’s data is processed, transmitted, and stored exclusively within Canada; and
- Cloud services remain at all times under the control of service providers (including their ultimate parent corporations) that are not subject to foreign laws permitting foreign governments to access or compel actions affecting Canada’s data or services without Canada’s prior written consent.
These inputs are informing the design of a sovereign procurement stream aligned with the Government’s security, privacy, and digital sovereignty objectives.
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3) Planned Competitive Process
Approach
Canada anticipates using the Agile Procurement Process with an invitation to negotiate approach to deliver timely and high quality outcomes for the Government of Canada and Canadians.
Complementary to Other Procurement Vehicles
The sovereign cloud procurement stream will complement existing cloud procurement approaches and will not replace them.
Eligibility (SMBs and Canadian Supplier Focus)
Canada intends to launch a publicly open competitive process aligned with the Budget 2025 commitment to:
“Support small and medium sized Canadian businesses to help them access opportunities more easily.”
This approach is also consistent with the Buy Canadian Procurement Policy Framework, which establishes the foundation for implementing Canadian preference measures across federal procurement. The Framework aims to strengthen Canada’s economic resilience by prioritizing Canadian materials, suppliers, and content in federal purchasing, while supporting reciprocal procurement with trusted trade partners and improving access for Canadian Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs).
Under the upcoming process:
- Only Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) will be eligible to bid.
- Canada will apply the SMB definition used by Statistics Canada.
In addition to meeting SMB eligibility requirements, bidders must also demonstrate that neither the company nor its ultimate parent corporation is subject to any executive order or equivalent legal instrument issued by a foreign government that could compel access to, disclosure of, or interruption of services or data without Canada’s prior written consent.
This requirement is intended to ensure that sovereign cloud services remain fully under Canadian control and insulated from foreign legal compulsion risks, in support of Canada’s digital sovereignty objectives.
Problem Specific Competitive Processes
Beyond the open SME focused competition, Canada may conduct targeted competitive processes to address specific sovereignty related challenges where Canadian firms can offer concrete solutions that materially enhance Canada’s sovereign cloud posture.
These processes will be used only where needed to rapidly resolve critical security or sovereignty gaps.
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4) Transparency, National Security, and Trade Agreements
Canada has invoked the National Security Exception (NSE) for this procurement stream, as previously indicated in the RFI. The NSE exempts all phases of the sovereign cloud procurements from all applicable trade agreements.
Rationale for Limited Public Disclosure
Canada remains committed to transparency in federal procurement. However, some aspects of the sovereign cloud initiative involve sensitive operational requirements. Publicly releasing detailed information about certain procurement activities could unintentionally expose security relevant insights, including:
- the nature of sensitive capabilities Canada requires,
- the vulnerabilities being mitigated, and
- architectural or operational details that must remain protected to ensure system integrity and resilience.
For these reasons, certain targeted competitive processes may not be publicly advertised. This approach is consistent with federal procurement policy and longstanding Government of Canada practice where national security considerations apply.
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5) Indicative Timeline
- Draft solicitation(s): Q1 2026-2027
- Industry engagement on draft(s): Q1 2026-2027
- Launch of the SME eligible competition: Q1/Q2 2026-2027
- Targeted problem specific processes: As required
All dates are indicative and subject to change. Updates and documentation will be posted on CanadaBuys as they become available.
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6) Language
All documents will be available in both official languages of Canada.
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7) Enquiries
Please direct enquiries to:
P••••••••@•••••••.••.ca
