This article is an excerpt from Government Procurement, which is available for purchase.
In its May 2015 determination in Falcon Environmental Services Inc. v. Department of Public Works and Government Services, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal upheld the government’s decision to reject a non-compliant proposal. The case dealt with an RFP issued on behalf of the Department of National Defence for the provision of wildlife control services. The complainant’s proposal was rejected as late but it contested its disqualification on the basis that it had submitted a timely bid. The Tribunal disagreed, upholding the rejection after finding that the proposal was shipped within the required deadline but to the wrong location. As this case illustrates, the requirement of physical bid submissions continues to result in bid disputes, further underscoring the need to transition to electronic bid submission systems, which, while not error free, significantly reduce the risks associated with human error that often arise with physical bid submissions.
