The City of Calgary is enhancing its procurement practices to increase local and Canadian procurements to counteract the impact of U.S. tariffs.
Calgary is considered a leader when it comes to prioritizing local through its Social Procurement program. The program includes a Social Procurement Questionnaire that is integrated into The City’s regular procurement practices. The questionnaire is part of procurement evaluations and gives small and medium-sized businesses a competitive advantage.
Starting on March 31, 2025, The City is making the following changes to further support local and Canadian businesses:
- For large, competitive procurements of:
- Goods or materials: The Social Procurement Questionnaire weighting will be increased to 10%. This is up from the current range of five to 10%. This increase will benefit small and medium businesses.
- Services, including consulting and construction: Where possible, the Social Procurement Questionnaire weighting will be increased to 10%. The range will stay within five to 10% and we will review service procurements on a case-by-case basis.
- These are for purchases over $75,000 for goods and services and over $200,000 for construction.
- For small procurements, we will:
- Try to get all three quotes from local suppliers, where possible. This is up from getting one local quote out of three quotes.
- When not possible, we will try to prioritize Canadian suppliers.
- These are for purchases under $75,000 for goods and services and under $200,000 for construction.
“We are making conscious decisions to Buy Local or Canadian where we can, to decrease our reliance on U.S. suppliers, to further support our economy,” said Amit Patil, Director of Supply Management.
Supply chain disruptions in the past sparked The City to establish a Supply Chain Resilience program that ensures its supply chain remains strong and agile through mitigating measures. “We have been proactively managing supply chain challenges, including tariffs and commodity fluctuations for several years now,” said Patil.
Approximately 95 per cent of The City’s contract value is with Canadian suppliers, and approximately 70 per cent of that value is within Alberta.
The enhancements are in addition to the resources we have made available to support local businesses.
Learn more about how The City is responding to the impacts of U.S. tariffs at calgary.ca/tariffs.
