In its November 2024 decision in Canada (Attorney General) v. EllisDon Corporation, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the government’s appeal of a Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) ruling that awarded financial compensation to a bidder who was improperly awarded a contract due to a government evaluation error and then had that contract award revoked.
In its prior September 2023 determination in EllisDon Corporation v. Department of Public Works and Government Services, the CITT found that the government improperly rejected Pomerleau Inc.’s low bid as non-compliant after a government employee mishandled Pomerleau’s electronic bid bond and then delayed the rectification of that error for a protracted period before revoking the contract it had mistakenly awarded to EllisDon. The CITT ruled that EllisDon should be awarded financial compensation for lost business opportunities from the date it was improperly awarded the contract and then put under a stop-work order until the date that the contract was formally terminated. As this decision illustrates, correcting prior evaluation errors does not shield government institutions from the prejudice that these corrections may cause to other impacted parties, including bidders who have been awarded a contract in error.
This case study, which underscores why public institutions should adopt formal evaluation and award protocols to guard against evaluation errors, will be featured in the Implementing Project Management Protocols module of our new Fundamentals of Canadian Government Procurement certificate program that runs in April and returns in October. Please see our current training schedule for more details.
