Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act
The Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act (BOBIA) is a provincial procurement regulation that took effect on April 1, 2024. The Act impacts all university purchases totalling less than $120,000 and requires that preference is given to Ontario businesses when procuring goods and services for the university.
BOBIA does not override the university’s requirement to engage in competitive procurement processes, but is in addition to those processes. Purchasing Services - Financial Services will work with departments and units during the request for proposal (RFP) process to ensure compliance with both existing trade agreements and with BOBIA, where required.
What is an Ontario business?
Under BOBIA, an Ontario business is defined as any supplier, manufacturer or distributor that:
- conducts its activities on a permanent basis in Ontario; and
- at the time of procurement either has:
- its headquarters or main office in Ontario; or
- has 250 or more employees in Ontario.
The university can rely on the representation of the vendor regarding their status as an Ontario business as defined by BOBIA. As much as possible, we encourage you to seek vendors that have been acknowledged as an Ontario business or have been prequalified as an official vendor of record by the university.
What does BOBIA apply to?
BOBIA applies to all university purchases totalling less than $120,000. It is implemented on a go-forward basis and does not affect existing agreements, RFPs in progress or vendor of record arrangements.
There are exceptions under BOBIA for the purchase of goods or services that are not otherwise available from an Ontario business or purchases made in the case of an emergency. However, please keep in mind that inadequate planning does not constitute an emergency.
How to comply with BOBIA
BOBIA applies to all university purchases of goods and services of less than $120,000. There are three ways by which you can comply with BOBIA requirements when making purchases within the amount threshold.
Determine if one or more Ontario businesses are available to meet your requirements. You do not need to independently validate the status of an Ontario business; rather, you can ask the vendor to attest whether they are an Ontario business. You can document this by:
- including it on the request for quote (RFQ) template available from Financial Services; or
- asking vendors to submit a vendor attestation via email, along with their quote.
If Ontario and non-Ontario businesses are invited to quote, you must include a 10 per cent preference for Ontario businesses in your evaluation criteria. Your decision criteria and evaluation must be documented and retained. Find more details in the BOBIA documentation requirements and record-keeping chart.
Note that if a non-Ontario business is selected, there is no need to complete the Non-Ontario Business Exception Form if you included a 10% preference to the Ontario Business.
Preference must be given to Ontario businesses for purchases of less than $120,000, regardless of the means of procurement. Exceptions to this requirement are only valid under specific circumstances.
If a valid exception exists, you are required to document the exception on the (google form) Non-Ontario Business Exception Form (external link) and submit it in the Financial Information System (FIS) where applicable.
Exceptions
BOBIA applies to the vast majority of purchases under the threshold of less than $120,000. Goods and services must be purchased from Ontario businesses except those noted below:
- Treasury operations services: Services related to the management of financial assets and liabilities, and includes services related to any of the following activities: borrowing, debt management, risk management, cash management, banking, or investing.
- Emergencies: A situation or impending situation that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property.
- Goods or services procured from a vendor of record or standing arrangement agreement.
- A good or service procured for commercial sale or resale or for use in the production of a good or service intended for commercial sale or resale.
- Legal services (lawyer, paralegal or notary public).
- The services of an expert witness to be used in a court or legal proceeding.
- A good or service that is not available from an Ontario business. (Note that selecting this option will require you to provide more details in the Non-Ontario Business Exception Form.)
In the case of vendors of record, please note that you can request to create a new vendor of record at any time, and the BOBIA exception will still apply. If you cannot find items you require in TMU’s existing vendors of record listings, additional prequalified vendors may be sourced on your behalf by contacting Purchasing Services.
Records and reporting
To demonstrate compliance with BOBIA, the university will be required to report procurements to the province. While Financial Services will report this data on behalf of the university, you must ensure the appropriate documentation is collected at the time of arranging procurement.
You can determine your documentation requirements according to the payment method and dollar value of your procurement.
BOBIA documentation requirements and record-keeping chart
The table below summarizes documentation requirements according to the two determining factors of payment method and dollar value.
Payment method |
Total procurement value (before taxes) |
Required BOBIA documentation |
Where to upload BOBIA documentation |
Cheque requisition or expense reimbursement |
$0 to $120,000 |
|
Please maintain documentation locally |
TMU Purchasing Card (P-Card) or self-service invoice (SSI) |
$5,000 or less |
|
Please maintain documentation locally |
Purchase requisition |
$0 to $24,999 |
|
Please upload documentation to the Financial Information System (FIS) |
Purchase requisition |
$25,000 to $119,999 |
|
Please upload documentation to the Financial Information System (FIS) |
Please note, for non-competitive purchases requiring a request to waive (RTW), the (google form) Non-Ontario Business Exception Form (external link) is required in addition to the RTW form if awarding to a non-Ontario Business.
Documentation explanations
If you are unsure what each type of BOBIA document entails, a summary is provided below.
To streamline the procurement process, vendors can provide quotes using their normal format but should be asked to include in their quote the vendor attestation, which affirms they are an Ontario business. Financial Services has developed a Request for Quote template that includes the vendor attestation within it. To request a copy, please contact Purchasing Services.
Not all vendors that have an Ontario address meet the definition of an Ontario business. You can find more on what is an Ontario business but if you are unsure, Financial Services can work with you to collect information from businesses located in Ontario in order to report qualifying purchases.
Vendors can confirm they are an Ontario business by including the following statement within their quote or in writing via email:
The authorized agent represents and warrants that pursuant to O. Reg 422/23, [Vendor Name] is an Ontario business that meets the following requirements: (1) the business is a supplier, manufacturer or distributor of any business structure that conducts its activities on a permanent basis in Ontario and (2) The business either, (i) has its headquarters or main office in Ontario, or (ii) has at least 250 full-time employees in Ontario at the time of the applicable procurement process.
There are limited and specific exceptions where purchases are not required to be made from Ontario businesses. In these specific cases, you are required to complete the (google form) Non-Ontario Business Exception Form (external link) and either store it in your local records or attach a copy of the form to your purchase requisition. Find more on the BOBIA documentation requirements and record-keeping chart.
BOBIA requires that Ontario businesses be given a 10 per cent preference either in price or in rated criteria if additional qualitative factors are included in the evaluation. Financial Services has developed an evaluation template that can be used to facilitate your evaluation or rated criteria. When rated criteria are used to evaluate both Ontario and non-Ontario businesses, a copy of the evaluation criteria must be submitted with your purchase requisition.
Evaluation examples
To assist you in carrying out evaluations in compliance with BOBIA, Financial Services has created examples of both price-only evaluations and rated evaluations that include both price and qualitative factors.
Under BOBIA, when there are both Ontario and non-Ontario businesses quoting for goods or services, you must:
- include at least a 10 per cent price preference for Ontario businesses; or
- include a 10 per cent preference in the rated criteria for Ontario businesses in addition to price.
If the vendor selection is made on price alone, then an Ontario business must be given a 10 per cent price preferential margin in your evaluation. So, if the lowest responsive price received is from a non-Ontario business and an Ontario business is within 10 per cent of that amount, the Ontario business must be selected. For example:
Scenario 1
Supplier A is non-Ontario-based and offers a price of $35,000
Supplier B is Ontario-based and offers a price of $37,500
You must select supplier B as the price is not more than 10 per cent higher than supplier A ($35,000 x 1.1 = $38,500).
Scenario 2
Supplier A is non-Ontario-based and offers a price of $35,000
Supplier B is Ontario-based and offers a price of $39,000
You can select supplier A as supplier B’s price is more than 10 per cent higher ($35,000 x 1.1 = $38,500) than supplier A.
Rated evaluation criteria can be used to select a supplier but must include a 10 per cent preference for Ontario businesses in the qualitative evaluation. You are encouraged to contact Financial Services for guidance when using rated criteria.
Please keep in mind the following:
- Rated criteria are established to evaluate quotations by assigning a score to each rated criteria.
- These criteria will vary depending on the nature of the purchase, but common factors might include price, delivery time and other technical requirements.
- Once rated criteria have been identified, assign weights to each criterion based on its relative importance. The weight assigned to each criterion will indicate its importance to the purchase.
- Rated criteria should always be communicated to suppliers.
- Once ready to evaluate, assign a rated score against the established criteria by multiplying the rating for each criterion by its assigned weight. The sum of the scores across all criteria will be the total score for each supplier. Once the evaluation has been completed, review the total scores to determine which supplier to select.
Examples of rated criteria could include experience or qualifications, delivery timelines, methodology or work plan, project team or key personnel, price, support and maintenance, sustainability, technical requirements or warranty terms.
Sample rated criteria and weight
The table below shows a sample of rated criteria options and its assigned weight.
Rated criteria |
Weight by percent |
Price |
60 |
Technical requirements |
20 |
Delivery timelines |
10 |
Ontario business preferential margin |
10 |
Total |
100% |
Sample rated criteria comparison
Using the same rated criteria in the sample above, the table below shows how you might score three different suppliers and make a selection. In this example, the Ontario business should be selected based on the total score, due to the 10 per cent preferential margin.
Supplier A: Ontario business |
Supplier B: Non-Ontario business |
Supplier C: Non-Ontario business |
|
Quoted price |
$27,500 |
$25,000 |
$30,000 |
Price |
54.5 |
60 |
50 |
Technical requirements |
18 |
14 |
17 |
Delivery timelines |
10 |
10 |
10 |
Ontario Business preferential margin |
10 |
0 |
0 |
Total |
92.5 |
84 |
77 |
Templates and aids
To assist you with BOBIA compliance, Financial Services has created templates and aids such as a request for quote (RFQ) template, vendor attestation, and evaluation templates. For access to these materials, please contact Purchasing Services.
Questions?
If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact the Purchasing Services department within Financial Services.