Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act | Purchase Good and Services

Effective April 1, 2024, the University is required to comply with the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act. BOBIA requires the University to give preference to Ontario businesses in certain procurements. An Ontario business is defined under BOBIA as any supplier, manufacturer, or distributor that conducts its activities on a permanent basis in Ontario; and, at the time of procurement, has its headquarters or main office in Ontario or has at least 250 full-time employees in Ontario. Purchases from non-Ontario businesses will be permitted with appropriate justification; new evaluation processes, documentation requirements, and reporting obligations will apply.

For purchases exceeding $121,200 (pre-tax), Strategic Procurement Services will work with departments during the RFP process to ensure compliance with existing trade agreements, and to appropriately document any approved exemptions. For purchases under $121,200, departments will be required to collect additional information from vendors at the point of obtaining quotes and to submit that additional information to SmartBuy alongside the Vendor Quote Solicitation Form.

Strategic Procurement Services will support your BOBIA compliance by sharing tools, templates and will, as soon as possible, launch an up-to-date online database of suppliers categorized as Ontario businesses under BOBIA. We are available to assist and address any questions you may have. Questions may be sent directly to Strategic Procurement Services at purchase@yorku.ca.

How to Comply with BOBIA

When purchasing goods or services under $121,200, departments will be required to comply with BOBIA via one of the following methods. Where possible, we have aligned these new requirements with existing processes to minimize the administrative burden of compliance with the new regulations.

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3

Option 1: Award to an Ontario Business

Determine if one or more Ontario businesses are available to meet your business requirements. You do not need to independently validate the status of an Ontario business; rather, you must ask the vendor to attest whether they are an Ontario business. This can be documented on the Vendor Quote Solicitation template.

Option 2: Give Ontario Businesses Preference in Evaluation

If both Ontario businesses and non-Ontario businesses are invited to quote, include a 10% preference for Ontario businesses in your evaluation criteria. Document your decision criteria and evaluation using the Invitation to Quote Evaluation Template and the Vendor Quote Solicitation form and complete a Non-Ontario Business Justification (NOBJ) form if a non-Ontario business is selected.

Option 3: Document an Approved Exemption

If the goods or services fall into an exempt category or are unavailable from an Ontario business, you must document the exemption on the Non-Ontario Business Justification form. Specific categories of exemption include:

Procurement of Legal Services or Treasury Services (related to the management of financial assets and liabilities, such as debt management, risk management, cash management, banking, or investing);
Goods or Services procured for commercial sale or resale or for use in the production of a good or service intended for commercial sale or resale;
Purchases made using an existing Vendor of Record;
Emergency Circumstances (defined as a situation or impending situation that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property); or
Procurement of goods or services which are not available from an Ontario Business, or if the goods or services provided by Ontario Businesses do not meet the University’s needs.

Records and Reporting

For small dollar value (<$25,000 pre-tax) purchases using a University Purchasing Card you will not need to submit accompanying documentation through SmartBuy but you must keep a record of all purchases to Ontario and non-Ontario businesses using the Ontario Business Attestation form and, if applicable, the Non-Ontario Business Justification (NOBJ) form. For all other purchases under $121,200, purchasers must submit documentation regarding the vendor’s status in Ontario, and any evaluation criteria supporting award to a non-Ontario business, in SmartBuy for non-Catalogue Purchase Requisition.

Compliance Requirements

THRESHOLD	HOW TO APPLY BOBIA	DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED
Under $25,000 Procurement Method: PCard Minimum 1 Written Supplier Quote Required	You must purchase from an Ontario business unless a valid exemption applies. If you purchase from a non-Ontario business, keep the justification for your records.	If you purchase from a non-Ontario business, you must record your justification and keep a record of it
Under $25,000 Procurement Method: Invoice Minimum 1 Written Supplier Quote Required	Determine if one or more Ontario businesses are available to meet your business requirements and award to an Ontario business. Collect a written attestation from Ontario suppliers. If an Ontario business is not selected, complete the Non-Ontario Business Justification Form (NOBJ) and select your rationale for the reason you did not award to an Ontario business	Submit vendor attestation, evaluation criteria, NOBJ and quote solicitation to SmartBuy non-PO invoice transaction
$25,000 - $121,200 Procurement Method: Non-Catalogue Purchase Requisition Minimum 3 Written Supplier Quotes Required	Determine if one or more Ontario businesses are available to meet your business requirements and award to an Ontario business. Collect a written attestation from Ontario suppliers. If an Ontario business is not selected, complete the Non-Ontario Business Justification Form (NOBJ) and select your rationale for the reason you did not award to an Ontario business. If the goods or services fall into an exempt category, or are unavailable from an Ontario business, you may proceed to purchase from a Non-Ontario Business and document the exemption on the Non-Ontario Business Justification (NOBJ). When inviting both Ontario businesses and non-Ontario businesses are invited to quote as part of the three-quote requirement, give a 10% preference (on price or other criteria) to the Ontario businesses.	Submit vendor attestation, evaluation criteria, NOBJ and quote solicitation to Smartbuy when creating a Non Catalogue Purchase Requisition

Exemptions

BOBIA does not apply in the following circumstances:

Purchase of External Legal Services or Treasury Services (related to the management of financial assets and liabilities, such as debt, risk management, cash management, banking, investing).
Vendor of Record (VOR) arrangements.
Emergency Circumstances (defined as a situation that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property).
Goods or Services procured for commercial sale or resale or for use in the production of a good or service intended for commercial sale or resale.
Goods or Services which are not available from an Ontario business, or the Ontario business does not meet the University’s needs

Evaluation Criteria

When there are BOTH Ontario businesses and non-Ontario businesses quoting for goods or services, departments must include at least 10% preference for Ontario businesses in the rated criteria.

Rated Criteria are established to evaluate quotations by assigning a score to each criterion. These criteria will vary depending on the nature of the purchase, but common factors might include price, delivery time, technical requirements, warranty terms, etc.
NEW WITH BOBIA: include “Ontario Business Preference” as one of the rated criteria.
Once Rated Criteria have been identified, assign a weight to each criterion based on its relative importance. The weight assigned to each criterion will indicate its importance to the purchase.
NEW WITH BOBIA: Ontario Business Preference should be assigned a weight of at least 10% of the total.

Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act (BOBIA) FAQs

If you have any questions relating to the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act (BOBIA), please reach out to purchase@yorku.ca.

This is legislation enacted by the Province of Ontario. As the University is in receipt of public funds and falls within the Broader Public Sector, we are duty bound to enact these changes.

The Non-Ontario Business Justification (NOBJ) is a form that identifies exemptions, as determined by the Province, to the BOBIA requirements. If you are not using an Ontario business for your procurement, you must complete an NOBJ form each time you purchase from the vendor.

No. Vendors of Record are exempt from BOBIA requirements. You do not need to submit BOBIA documentation when purchasing from Vendors of Record. Strategic Procurement strongly recommends that you use Vendors of Record wherever possible. To see a list of Vendors of Record, please see the Overview of Vendors of Record on the Strategic Procurement Website.

This legislation does not stipulate how long you are to spend trying to research market availabilities for Ontario-based businesses. Strategic Procurement is recommending that you devote the time you think reasonable for your purchase and no more. To help, Strategic Procurement strongly recommends that you source from a Vendor of Record (VOR) as they provide great value to the University. If a VOR is not available, consider consulting the Ontario business database to see if there are vendors listed who might be able to assist.

The BOBIA database is an initiative created by Strategic Procurement to minimize the administrative requirements of requesting Ontario Business Attestation (OBA) forms for repeat vendors. As a vendor is created, we will catalogue the Attestation form and add the vendor to the Ontario list or non-Ontario list. If you see the vendor listed on either of the pages, you do not need to send an additional attestation form. Please note, if the business is a non-Ontario business, you are required at each purchase to submit the Non-Ontario Business Justification (NOBJ) form.

As this situation is rapidly evolving, please check Strategic Procurement’s website for additional tools as they are launched. In the meantime, please refer to the instructions in the Vendor Quote Solicitation Form package for support. If you have additional questions or concerns, please email purchase@yorku.ca and a member of our team will be happy to assist.

Please submit a Competitive Bid Request Form and Strategic Procurement will advise on any potential BOBIA implications.

The main objective of BOBIA is to give preference to Ontario businesses in the procurement process. If your invited vendors are all Ontario-based - as determined by the Attestation form, or by appearing on York's Ontario business vendor directory (coming soon) - there is no need to apply the 10% weighted preference. Bids can be low bid or evaluative without the 10% weighted preference.

Ready to Quote?

All the forms and template you need to complete the quote process are available in one place! If you have any questions, please reach out to purchase@yorku.ca

Visit the Forms Page