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ARTICLE · 09 MARCH 2018

Proposal For The Codification Of The Rules Governing Public Contracts In Quebec

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In Quebec there are two evolving and parallel legal regimes for the awarding of public contracts. One pertains to government-sector "public bodies" within the meaning of the Act...

CanadaGovernment, Public Sector
Sébastien Laprise
Sébastien Laprise
Jean-Benoît Pouliot
Jean-Benoît Pouliot
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This article first appeared in French on the blog "Perspective" of the Quebec association of consulting engineering firms (AFG).

In Quebec there are two evolving and parallel legal regimes for the awarding of public contracts. One pertains to government-sector "public bodies" within the meaning of the Act respecting contracting by public bodies, and the other to municipal bodies. In March 2010 an advisory group on the awarding of municipal contracts rejected a proposal to consolidate all the applicable rules in one piece of legislation1. 

Since 2010 however there has been a proliferation of legislative and regulatory amendments to these two legal regimes. The rules of one regime are being progressively incorporated into the other, and vice versa. Some differences remain between the two regimes however, as their drafters have over time adopted different visions of what the contracting rules should be. That being the case, in our view the harmonization of the rules

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