This article is an extract from the 5th edition of Government Procurement.
In its June 2023 report entitled Report on the Rehabilitation of the Roussin Centre (Calls for Tenders IMM.SP20-05, IMM22-01 and IMM22-08), Montreal’s Inspector General found that two municipal tender calls for a community centre upgrade project included biased specifications and that those tender calls did not include a required clause allowing potential bidders to submit equivalency requests during the pre-bid tender posting period. As the Inspector General noted, the applicable legal standards required the municipality to prepare specifications that were described in terms of neutral performance or functional requirements rather than descriptive characteristics and, if that was not possible, required that bidders be permitted to propose equivalencies.
However, the Inspector General found no evidence that the consultant retained by the municipality to draft the requirements had attempted to prepare neutral specifications before adopting specific brands and models into those specifications. The Inspector General concluded that the consulting contract in question should be rescinded, and that the municipality should develop a plan to better ensure that future specifications are prepared in a manner that is compliant with applicable neutrality standards. The Inspector General also prescribed mandatory training for all municipal employees involved in the design and preparation of tender documents and instructed that those employees responsible for managing external technical consultants advise those consultants of applicable neutrality standards at the beginning of each project.
