Increasingly, governments in developed countries are looking to sustainable procurement to rescue their foundering economies under the guise of “green” or “sustainable” procurement. Read the rest of this entry »
144314 Canada Inc./Nexys v. Department of Human Resources and Social Development
Canadian International Trade Tribunal
July 14, 2008
In its July 2008 determination in 144314 Canada Inc./Nexys v. Department of Human Resources and Social Development, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal upheld a complaint after finding that the government had inaccurately interpreted a vague mandatory requirement and had improperly rejected the complainant’s proposal. Read the rest of this entry »
Immeubles Yvan Dumais Inc. v. Department of Public Works and Government Services
Canadian International Trade Tribunal
July 18, 2008
In its July 2008 determination in Immeubles Yvan Dumais Inc. v. Department of Public Works and Government Services, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal upheld a complaint after finding that the government applied an undisclosed formula to score the pricing of the complainant’s bid. Read the rest of this entry »
As evidenced by ongoing case law developments, purchasing institutions can incur significant legal exposure when they fail to adhere to the fundamental tendering tenets of open and fair competition. The following new cases focus on three recurring litigation hotspots:
1. the duty to conduct a fair evaluation based on transparent criteria;
2. the restriction against engaging in post-tendering price reduction schemes that prejudice low bidders; and
3. the adverse impact of conflict of interest and insider advantage.
Antian Professional Services Inc. v. Department of Public Works and Government Services
Canadian International Trade Tribunal
July 2, 2008
In its July 2008 determination in Antian Professional Services Inc. v. Department of Public Works and Government Services, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal dismissed the complainant’s challenge of the government’s evaluation process. The case dealt with a Request for Standing Offer for exhibit management and related personnel services. The complainant alleged that the government conducted an unfair evaluation process. Read the rest of this entry »
A Procurement Exchange partner, PPI Consulting, recently hosted Shaun McCarthy from ActionSustainability. ActionSustainability is at the forefront of sustainable procurement activities in the UK, and Shaun is a founder of that firm.
If nothing else, the event highlighted the philosophical and technical decisions that need to be made to implement a fully functioning sustainable procurement program. Read the rest of this entry »
During a formal bidding process, purchasers are typically under an implied duty to reject non-compliant tenders. This implied duty prohibits the post-bidding correction of material defects in a tender. While the practice of correcting tender defects is often justified as a “clarification” or “correction” exercise aimed at addressing “minor irregularities”, this column reviews three recent cases that illustrate how these post-tendering activities can constitute “bid repair” and result in significant legal liabilities to the purchasing institution. Read the rest of this entry »
Supreme Court of Canada, July 10, 2008
In July 2008 the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal the December 2007 British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia. The Court of Appeal decision enforced a limitation of liability provision contained in a government tender call and reversed a trial decision that had originally awarded over $3 million in damages against the government. Read the rest of this entry »
Using plain language in your contract documents isn’t as easy as it sounds. While plain language advocates argue for using plain words in legal documents and for interpreting those words based on their ordinary meaning, achieving this objective is complicated by two factors. First of all, using technical language is sometimes essential to the accurate and succinct expression of complex ideas. Secondly, there’s no consensus on what we mean by the “ordinary meaning” of a word. As this column explains, drafting technical details in plain language may be harder than you think. Read the rest of this entry »
Some recent procurement news items, courtesy of Google Alerts, caught my attention with respect to the implementation of shared service models for procurement. For starters, I was surprised that it was even news. After all, isn’t this the accepted best practice now? It seems that might not be the case in Australia and Japan. Read the rest of this entry »
This describes some of the ways in which web based software can help public sector organizations comply with common regulations. In the article he draws upon his experience of working with public sector organizations in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to provide some ideas for how to use eSourcing and eRFX software in public sector tenders. Patrick Dobbs is the product manager for SupplierSelect, a provider of hosted RFP management and vendor evaluation software based in London, UK.