CITT bid challenge deadline calculator
Ten working days, not ten calendar days. Work out when a complaint to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal is due, with statutory holidays excluded.
The day you knew, or reasonably should have known, the ground for the complaint.
Deadline
Enter the date the basis of the complaint became known. The period is ten working days, so weekends and federal statutory holidays are excluded.
This calculates dates from the published timing rules and the federal statutory holiday schedule. It is not legal advice and does not account for every circumstance. Confirm the date against the regulations and the Tribunal's own guidance before relying on it.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal hears complaints about federal procurements covered by a trade agreement. The filing period is short and, unlike the American equivalent, it is measured in working days. That single difference is the most common reason a Canadian supplier miscounts: ten working days from a date in late December is nearly three weeks away, and ten calendar days is not.
Working days, not calendar days
Weekends and statutory holidays do not count.
The period is ten working days from the day the basis of the complaint became known or reasonably should have become known. Weekends are excluded, and so are federal statutory holidays. A window that crosses Easter, Canada Day, or the Christmas period stretches considerably further than a calendar count suggests.
This calculator uses the federal statutory holidays, including the substituted weekday when a fixed-date holiday such as Boxing Day falls on a weekend. If your complaint window runs through a provincial holiday that is not a federal one, that day still counts.
Objecting to the department first
A second route, with its own two deadlines.
You can raise the issue with the buying institution before going to the Tribunal. That route has two deadlines rather than one: the objection itself has to be made within ten working days of the basis becoming known, and then the complaint has to be filed within ten working days of learning that relief was denied.
The trap is that objecting does not pause the first clock. An objection made after the initial ten working days closes the route entirely, and a supplier who spends three weeks in correspondence with a contracting officer before approaching the Tribunal has usually lost the right to complain regardless of the merits.
- Object within ten working days of knowing
- Then file within ten working days of the denial
- A late objection closes the route
- Correspondence does not pause the clock
What the Tribunal can look at
Coverage depends on the trade agreement, not on the unfairness.
The Tribunal's jurisdiction covers designated procurements, which broadly means federal contracts above the thresholds set by an applicable trade agreement such as the CFTA, the CETA, or the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. A procurement below every applicable threshold, or excluded by one of the agreements' carve-outs, is generally outside its reach however badly it was run.
That is worth checking before the clock becomes the problem. Where the Tribunal has no jurisdiction, the remaining options are an objection to the department, a request under access to information, or the Office of the Procurement Ombud, which has a separate and different mandate.
What to have ready before filing
A complaint has form requirements as well as a deadline.
A complaint has to identify the procurement, state the grounds clearly, explain how a trade agreement was breached, and include the documents relied on. Filing something incomplete on the last day is risky: the Tribunal can decline to accept a complaint that does not meet the requirements, and the deadline does not restart while you fix it.
Start assembling the solicitation, the amendments, the correspondence, the regret letter, and any debriefing notes as soon as the ground appears. Most of the ten working days should go into deciding whether to file, not into gathering documents you already had.
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Build a matching profileRelated resources
GAO protest deadline calculator
The United States equivalent, counted in calendar days.
CanadaBuys guide
Where federal solicitations and award notices are published.
Trade agreement thresholds
Which agreements cover a procurement at a given value.
What is an RFP?
Mandatory criteria, rated criteria, and the basis of selection.
Questions people ask
How long do you have to file a complaint with the CITT?
Ten working days from the day the basis of the complaint became known or reasonably should have become known. Weekends and federal statutory holidays are excluded from the count.
Does objecting to the department extend the deadline?
It opens a second route rather than extending the first. The objection itself must be made within ten working days, and the complaint is then due within ten working days of learning relief was denied. A late objection closes the route.
Which procurements can the CITT review?
Designated procurements, broadly federal contracts covered by an applicable trade agreement above its threshold. Contracts below every threshold, or excluded by a carve-out, generally fall outside its jurisdiction.
Is there a fee to file?
The Tribunal charges no fee to file a complaint. The real cost is the legal work in preparing one and the short window in which to do it.