This article is an excerpt from Government Procurement, which is available for purchase.
In its April 2014 determination in Vireo Network Inc. v. Department of Public Works and Government Services, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal dismissed a complaint filed by an unsuccessful bidder after finding that the complainant was unable to prove its assertions of bad faith against government evaluators. In rejecting the complaint, the Tribunal refused to grant the complainant’s request for more government-held information relating to the evaluation process. While the Tribunal acknowledged that it has the discretion to order such disclosure in the context of a particular complaint inquiry, it held that such disclosure was not necessary in the case since there was sufficient information on the record for it to make a determination on the validity of the complaint. The Tribunal also stated that unsubstantiated and speculative allegations of bad faith and bias do not provide a basis for a complainant to access documents in the possession of the government institution in order to engage in evidentiary “fishing expeditions” for possible further grounds of complaint. The Tribunal awarded the government its costs of responding to the complaint.
