In Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the fewest bidders per call for tenders, and the least gré à gré

The public procurement review counts, region by region, how many firms answer public calls for tenders. Three regions stand out for how few bidders they draw: Gaspésie, the Côte-Nord and Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Abitibi-Témiscamingue is where a call draws the fewest, and it is also where gré à gré weighs least.

The fewest bidders per call

Of the 755 public calls that closed in 2024 and 2025 on notices naming only Abitibi-Témiscamingue, a call drew 2.7 bidders on average, against 4.0 for all of Quebec: the lowest average of the seventeen regions. Of those calls, 30% drew a single bid, against 18% for Quebec; only the Côte-Nord and Gaspésie have a higher share.

What the review does not say

The review counts bids; it does not say why there are few, and a single bid says nothing about how a contract was awarded. Two things likely weigh here, as in the other two regions: the distance between the region and the large centres, which a firm from outside has to price in, and the small number of firms based there for each kind of work.

The least gré à gré

The share of awarded processes given by gré à gré is 42%, against 62% for all of Quebec. With Centre-du-Québec, it is the lowest share of the seventeen regions. A gré à gré contract awarded below the public-tender threshold is lawful, and the review does not say why the share is lower here. The median contract, for its part, is in line with elsewhere: $69K in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, $69K for all of Quebec.

For a bidder

The two measures point the same way. A larger share of contracts than elsewhere goes through competition, and each call draws few competitors: a firm that follows the calls in its trade in the region often finds few others across from it. For a firm from outside, the arithmetic is the same as in Gaspésie or on the Côte-Nord: price the travel, the lodging and the mobilisation into the bid, rather than finding them on site.