The Legault government’s plan to reform the rules for awarding public contracts disappoints many Quebec business circles, who would have liked a clearer shift in favor of the criteria of quality, innovation, long-term value and development. sustainable.
For the President and CEO of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ), Charles Milliard, the new Government Procurement Strategy of the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, and Bill 12 which accompanies it are “a missed opportunity”. By keeping the lowest price as the main selection criterion, Quebec will continue not only to be an “exception in North America”, but also to favor “short-term savings” “rather than value, quality, expertise, innovation and sustainability,” he lamented on Tuesday before the public finance committee, which was beginning its examination of the bill.
He was not the only one to regret that the government did not dare to go further. Representing the 370 medical equipment and material companies in Quebec, Medtech Canada has acknowledged that the details of the future granting criteria will come later, at the stage of the adoption of the regulations. However, the association has already noted that Quebec seems to want to “stay encouraging” more than to demand that we take into account rules other than the lowest price.
Failure of the voluntary approach
However, such a voluntary approach already exists with the result that almost nine out of ten contracts are granted strictly on the basis of price, noted the vice-president of Medtech Canada for Quebec, Benoît Larose. “This systematic recourse to the least expensive minimum quality in acceptable products is a brake on innovation, clinical quality and the search for value for citizens”, he declared, adding that “it It is not uncommon to see Quebec companies having to turn to other governments to find rules that do them justice. It is finally time to act, because the incentive approach has limits. »
In the Quebec bill, the criterion of the lowest bidder remains the rule from which public bodies must ask the Treasury Board to be exempted in order to also take into account other factors of choice, had regretted the day before in Homework the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, Michel Leblanc, after a speech given by Sonia LeBel. “It should be the opposite and the rule should be to take into account a broader and more complete set of factors and that one has to justify oneself if one wants to limit oneself only to the price. »
This systematic recourse to the least expensive minimum quality in acceptable products is a brake on innovation, clinical quality and the search for value for citizens.
Elsewhere in Canada, the United States or Europe, the lowest price often only counts for a small portion of the bid evaluation. Sometimes for as little as 10% of the final grade, argued the FCCQ.
Toolbox
A good player, Sonia LeBel listened carefully to all the comments made to her on Tuesday and promised to take them into account in the future. “There will indeed be adjustments to be made in the regulations to ensure that the toolbox is opened up properly and to ensure that the lowest bidder rule […] is no longer the rule adopted in all cases. And as has been demonstrated in the past, it has been used far too systematically in the past. However, I think we can also be honest in saying that this is not a rule that should be abolished and that it should remain in the toolbox. Perhaps for simpler cases. »
On more than one occasion, the Minister recalled that significant educational work will have to be done with government departments and agencies to broaden their horizons to other assessment tools and ways of doing things. With its strategy and its law, it also aims, among other things, for the proportion of goods purchased in Quebec to be increased from 38% to 50%, for these purchases no longer to be made at 52%, but at 60% outside regions of Montreal or Quebec, and that 15% of the total be responsible purchases. We also promise to train and help SMEs to get their share of the cake, and to test new approaches, such as life cycle analysis and the call, not for tenders for defined projects. advance, but rather to solutions.
Why such attachment to the rule of the lowest bidder in Quebec unlike other governments? ” We do not have a choice. We are talking about public markets. We are talking about Quebecers’ money,” said Sonia LeBel on Monday after her speech.
“It is certain that it is, among other things, the fault of the trauma of the Charbonneau commission”, observed in an interview with the Homework Tuesday Benoît Larose on the Commission of Inquiry on the Awarding and Management of Public Contracts in the Construction Industry. The stupidest thing is that we saw how the rule of the lowest bidder was not a guarantee against abuse. »
Former prosecutor at this same commission, Sonia LeBel would be perfectly placed to pilot a real reform of the rules of public procurement which is of her time while protecting the interests of citizens, said Michel Leblanc on Monday. “If anyone is capable of carrying out a reform that is credible, it is she. »