Bilateral Development Agencies

Bilateral Development Agencies (BDAs), like the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), provide grants and loans for development projects around the world.

There is now a growing market with other countries' development agencies, as many countries are untying all or part of their development assistance. This means Canadian companies can bid on some of the $70 billion worth of projects that these agencies fund.

This section can help you learn which agencies offer the best procurement opportunities. It includes information on where and how bilateral assistance is spent, how to find and access opportunities, and how Canada's Trade Commissioner Service can help you market your goods and services to these agencies.

In April 2001, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to adopt a recommendation on untying aid to the least-developed countries (see the DAC List of Aid Recipients for the classification of least-developed countries). Certain types of Official Development Assistance (ODA) destined for the least-developed countries, including sector programmes, investment project aid, and NGO procurement, were part of this agreement. The OECD launched the Untied Aid Bulletin Board where donors can post upcoming opportunities that are open to international competition. For more information on this initiative, see the July 2001 OECD Policy Brief.

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