The Act Respecting Contracting By Public Bodies: A New Quebec Procurement Paradigm?

The province of Quebec has long regulated the procurement of public services and construction contracts through the Act respecting contracting by public bodies¹. The Act provided a legislative and regulatory regime governing the procurement by public authorities of supply, service and construction contracts.

The regime initially provided, in essence, that public bodies were required to proceed by way of public tender for contracts the value of which varied depending on the type of contract² and the regulations set out the process which had to be adhered to. At the time the regulation was relatively innovative in that it allowed a qualitative analysis of bids submitted for certain types of contracts.