Ivanhoe Cambridge, the real estate arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, did not hold any competition or call for proposals before entrusting Claude Cormier + Associés with the mandate to produce an “art installation” at great expense, learned The newspaper.
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This architectural firm of Montreal is at the origin of The Ringan aerial steel structure 30 m in diameter for which it paid $5 million to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Place Ville Marie.
OTC
The company obtained the mandate without having to submit to competitions or procedures for calls for proposals, confirmed Ivanhoe Cambridge. In other words, the mandate was given to him by mutual agreement.
“To complete this major artistic installation […], we needed a designer who not only has a fine knowledge of urban life, but who also understands Montreal’s architectural heritage. Claude Cormier + Associés met these requirements through its versatility and experience,” said Gabrielle Meloche, spokesperson for Ivanhoe.
How could the Caisse, which manages the woolen stockings of Quebecers, override the rules for awarding contracts normally applicable to the public? Ivanhoe had not answered this question at the time of going to press.
not subject to the law
The Autorité des marchés publics, whose mandate is to ensure the application of the rules governing public contracts, explains that the Caisse and its subsidiary are not subject to the Act respecting contracting by public bodies.
If it had been, Ivanhoe would have been required to proceed by tender, supports its spokesperson Stéphane Hawey. Or, he details, to assert an exception provided for in the rare cases where a single contracting party is possible “because of the artistic, heritage or museological value” of the desired work. In such a case, and only in such a case, the organization is allowed to proceed by mutual agreement.