Notice of Planned Procurement

A Notice of Planned Procurement is an advance notice that informs suppliers and the wider market about an upcoming procurement before the formal solicitation is published. It sits at the pre-procurement stage, ahead of any invitation to tender, and its purpose is to give suppliers time to prepare.

The term is closely tied to the United Kingdom's Procurement Act 2023, where the same idea is called a planned procurement notice and works much like a pipeline notice. Canadian buyers also use the phrase as a notice title on CanadaBuys, so suppliers bidding in Canada can expect to see it in tender listings.

How the UK Procurement Act 2023 defines the notice

UK government guidance describes a planned procurement notice as an optional notice under the Procurement Act 2023, published at the pre-procurement stage. The guidance says it is similar to a pipeline notice because it gives advance notice of an upcoming procurement. You can read the guidance on the UK government planned procurement notice page.

The UK defence and security guidance adds that the notice is optional and best practice, intended to advise the market of an upcoming procurement. It also separates the ordinary notice from a qualifying planned procurement notice, which may be used to reduce the minimum tender period. The ordinary notice carries no such effect. It simply advises the market. The defence and security summary document sets out this distinction.

Examples from UK defence and infrastructure buyers

UK buyers publish these notices for a range of requirements. The Ministry of Defence's Defence Infrastructure Organisation issued a Planned Procurement Notice for a national water and wastewater managed service provider. Defence Equipment and Support published a planned procurement notice for Project SERPENS, covering close-find radars and associated in-service support.

Another Ministry of Defence notice, for CBRN equipment in-service support, was classified as a UK3: Planned procurement notice. These examples show the notice covering equipment, support services and framework arrangements.

How the phrase appears on CanadaBuys

On CanadaBuys, the phrase appears as a notice title. The Rural Municipality of Macdonald is listed with a "Notice of Planned Procurement December 1 2025 to November 30 2026", categorized under services and goods. The title shows a buyer using the notice to signal purchasing activity across a defined period rather than a single tender. You can find it in the CanadaBuys tender opportunities listing.

CanadaBuys also lists notices titled "NOI", short for Notice of Intent. Treat each notice on its own terms and read what the issuing buyer has published.

How NATO's Notification of Procurement Opportunity compares

NATO does not use the title Notice of Planned Procurement. Its term is Notification of Procurement Opportunity, or NPO. NATO's procurement opportunities page gives access to centralized opportunities and redirects users to the originating procurement platform. Suppliers are directed to the relevant NPO or solicitation for the applicable procedures. Suppliers working across Canadian and allied defence markets should keep the two terms separate.

What a Notice of Planned Procurement means for Canadian bidders

• Treat the notice as advance market information, not as a tender.
• Record the buyer, the goods or services category and the period the notice covers.
• Monitor the buyer's later solicitation on CanadaBuys or the buyer's own platform.
• Follow the requirements in the tender or procurement documents when they are published.
• Do not treat a response to the notice as a bid, and do not assume it guarantees an invitation to tender.

Used this way, the notice gives a bid team lead time to check capacity, line up partners and prepare compliance material before the solicitation opens.