31-03-2025
City of Calgary to buy more local and Canadian goods, services to decrease U.S. tariff impacts
The City of Calgary will buy more local and Canadian goods and services under changes to procurement practices that kicked in Monday.
The city said Monday that the changes have been put in place to help counter the effect of U.S. tariffs, and further support local and Canadian businesses.
Two changes concern the city's social procurement questionnaire, which it says gives small- and medium-sized businesses a competitive advantage. The social procurement questionnaire is part of the city's social procurement program and is integrated into its regular procurement practices, says the City of Calgary.
For purchases over $75,000 for goods and services, and over $200,000 for construction, the questionnaire weighting has increased to 10 per cent, up from the previous range of five to 10 per cent.
For large, competitive procurements of services, including consulting and construction, the weighting will also increase up to 10 per cent when possible. The range will stay within five to 10 per cent, with the city saying it will review service procurements on a case-by-case basis.
For small procurements — goods and services purchases under $75,000 and construction under $200,000 — the city will now attempt to obtain all three quotes from local suppliers when possible, instead of getting one local quote out of three. If that's not possible, the city says it will 'try to prioritize' Canadian suppliers.
'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,' Amit Patil, the City of Calgary's director of supply management, said in a statement on Monday.
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Previous supply chain disruptions led to the city starting a supply chain resilience program, to 'ensure its supply chain remains strong and agile through mitigating measures,' said the city.
'We have been proactively managing supply chain challenges, including tariffs and commodity fluctuations, for several years now,' said Patil.
The City of Calgary says roughly 95 per cent of its contract value is with Canadian suppliers, and about 70 per cent of that value is within Alberta. On its website, the city says five per cent of its contracts are with American suppliers or in U.S. dollars.
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