Cancellation of an open or limited call for bids is sometimes necessary for numerous reasons including a significant change in the requirement; the acceptance period may have expired; there were no submissions that meet all terms, conditions, specifications and evaluation criteria; or where the bids are substantially over the budget allocated for the procurement. A lot of thought and consideration shall be put into a decision to cancel a call for bids. Suppliers put a tremendous amount of time and effort into bid preparation, thereby incurring preparation costs. The cancellation of a call for bids shall not be taken lightly. The public body is not responsible for any costs incurred by a supplier resulting from a cancellation and this should be identified in the solicitation documents.

• A public body may cancel an open or limited call for bids or cease negotiations at any time before awarding a contract.
• If the cancellation is prior to the closing or the opening of the bids, a cancellation notice shall be posted on or be accessible through the Agency’s website to notify all interested bidders. Public bodies will report the details of cancellations to open calls for bids via the spreadsheet that is available at www.gpa.gov.nl.ca. Please see the Summary of Reporting section of this Policy for further information on the process to be followed.
• A public body may publish a cancellation to an open call for bids in other media, but that cancellation shall not be published in other media before it is published on the Agency’s website.
• Any bid submissions that are received prior to the cancellation of the call for bids shall be returned unopened to the bidder with a cover letter indicating the opportunity has been cancelled.
• If an open or limited call for bids is cancelled subsequent to the closing date and time, a notification shall be sent to all bidders by mail or through an electronic process indicating that the opportunity has been cancelled. Additionally, the notice of cancellation shall be available on the Agency’s website. All bid submissions received shall be maintained on the procurement file and not returned to the supplier.
• Any plan to recall the call for bids at a later date, if known, shall be indicated in the cancellation.
• The reason for cancelling a procurement opportunity shall be documented and placed on the procurement file.