SECTION I
TYPES OF CONTRACTS AND DEFINITIONS

1. This document describes the acquisition orientations applicable to supply contracts, contracts related to the acquisition of professional services and auxiliary services, as well as construction and concession contracts and joint ventures.

2. A supply contract is related to buying or renting a moveable asset and may include fees for installing, operating, and maintaining such assets.

3. A professional service contract is related to the acquisition of services provided by professionals or services under their responsibility, professionals being those registered with a professional corporation as per the Professional Code, or who hold an undergraduate diploma or equivalent.

4. An auxiliary service contract is related to the acquisition of technical services.

5. Construction contracts are related to preliminary soil management, foundations, construction, design, repair, redesigning, maintenance, renovation, modification and demolition of a building, all of which require the services of specialized construction professionals.

6. An establishment is the place where the bidder for a professional service contract carries out most of his activities and where his project supervisor works.

An establishment is also a place where the construction company carries out a considerable part of its activities, and where the equipment and the supervisory personnel required to do the work are found.

SECTION II
CALLS FOR TENDERS

A. General Principal and Exceptions

7. All contracts must be awarded following a call for tenders, with the exception of the cases described below:

1° When it is a supply contract for less than $2,000, an auxiliary service contract for less than $10,000, or a professional service, construction, concession, or joint venture contract for less than $25,000.

2° When it is a contract made with a sole source supplier.

3° When no real competition is possible because only one supplier is able to make an economically advantageous offer

4° When contracting with a supplier other than the one who provided a moveable asset, built something, or rendered a service, may imperil existing guarantees on this good or service

5° When it is a contract related to the acquisition of works of art or the services of an artist

6° When it is a non-solicited proposal, that is, a written proposal presented by a supplier of his own initiative in order to satisfy, or attempt to satisfy, one of the organization's needs in an original way and for a defined fee

7° When it is a contract made during an emergency situation in which the safety of people or goods is involved

8° When acquisitions are made in relation to an agreement with the Director of Property and Material Resource

B. Types of Calls for Tenders

8. Calls for tenders may be public or by invitation

9. Public calls for tenders must appear in French in at least one Québec daily or weekly newspaper published in the organization's region

10. Calls for tenders by invitation must be addressed to at least two suppliers which have been selected by the organization

11. Public calls for tenders must be used for all contracts whose estimated total fee is equal to or greater than $200,000. Calls for tenders by invitation are used in the other cases

C. Calls for Tenders Procedures

12. All suppliers invited to make a call for tenders must be provided with at least the following information:

a) A precise description of the work to be done or the goods to be delivered and the production deadlines

b) The type and amount of bid and execution guarantees when required

c) All of the conditions the supplier must meet

d) The date, place and deadline for calls for tenders submissions

e) The rules that will be followed in analyzing the bids, including the description of factors used for evaluating quality, and the relative weight of each of these factors

f) The date, place and time of the public opening for bids in the case of public calls for tenders

g) Bid validity period

13. A supplier's bid and accompanying documents must be written in French.

14. Unless no suppliers are available in Québec, all calls for tenders must be addressed only to suppliers who have offices in Québec, and who, in the case of service contracts, have the personnel in Québec required to carry out the work described in the mandate, or promise to hire only sub-contractors who meet this condition.

15. The documents must be in accordance with the provisions of the Québec Government Procurement Policy.

SECTION III
BID SOLICITATION METHODS

A. The Methods

16. Bids from suppliers may be solicited by a call for tenders, a call for proposals with estimate, a call for proposals without estimate, a call for bidders without estimate or a call for bidders with estimate.

17. In a call for tenders, suppliers exclusively submit a price or a rate for the realization of a project.

18. In a call for proposals with estimate, suppliers present a realization proposal and an estimate relative to this proposal.

19. In a call for proposals without estimate, suppliers present a realization proposal based on a budget pre-determined by the organization.

20. In a call for bidders without estimate, suppliers submit their experience, that of their principal collaborators, and the major work they have done that is pertinent to the tendered project.

21. In a call for bidders with estimate, suppliers must submit their experience, that of their principal collaborators, the major work they have done that is pertinent to the tendered project, and the rates requested for the different resources based on parameters that have been pre-determined by the organization. These parameters are designed so that by adding rates multiplied by the number of hours required, an approximate global price can be obtained for the project.

B. Use of Each Method

22. Calls for tenders are used for supply contracts, construction contracts, and auxiliary service contracts.

23. Calls for proposals with estimates are used for all professional service, concession and joint venture contracts for which the production sought is clearly defined in the call for tenders documents.

24. Invitations for proposals without estimates are limited to professional service, concession, and joint venture contracts for which suppliers must be aware of the available budget in order to draw up a realization proposal.

25. Calls for bidders, which whenever possible must include an estimate, are limited to professional service contracts to be carried out in the following situations:

1° The contract is done by professionals for whom a rates rule is adopted by virtue of the Code of Professions

2° The solutions required have too many unknown elements, making it difficult for suppliers to make realistic proposals

3° Preparing a proposal with estimate would cost a considerable amount of money and would constitute an essential part of the contract itself.

SECTION IV
BID EVALUATION AND CONTRACT ADJUDICATION

A. Adjudication

26. In a call for tenders, the contract is awarded to the lowest bidder based on the methods of calculation described in the book of specifications.

27. In calls for proposals with estimates and calls for bidders with estimates, the contract is awarded to the supplier offering the most advantageous bid based on quality-price ratio.

28. In calls for proposals without estimates or calls for bidders without estimates, the contract is awarded to the supplier who obtains the highest score when candidates or proposals are evaluated.

29. The establishment of the quality-price ratio is usually done as follows:

1° The quality factors under consideration for the analysis of the proposal with estimate or of the bidder with estimate are determined, and a relative weight is assigned to each.

2° The quality factors have a global weight of fifty points.

3° Each supplier is evaluated based on quality factors, and successful bidders are those who have a score of at least 70%.

4° The estimates of each bidder selected in step 3 are considered.

5° The supplier with the lowest bid receives fifty points.

6° The other suppliers lose a number of points proportional to the percentage of the difference between their price proposals and that of the lowest bidder.

7° The final score of each supplier is obtained by adding the scores of steps 3 and 6.

B. Bid Evaluation

30. When a call for proposals or bidders is used, suppliers' bids must be evaluated by a selection committee composed of at least three members.

31. When the contract under consideration is important, particularly in the case of public calls for tenders, the selection committee will have the advantage of being larger, and it must include at least one person from outside the organization.

32. The result of the analysis of a bid must be sent to all suppliers who made a bid in writing, along with the name of the successful bidder and the estimate submitted if needed.

SECTION V
IMPORTANT CONTRACTUAL CLAUSE

33. All service contracts granted in view of establishing drawings and specifications must include the following obligations:

1° Favour solutions that represent the strongest Québec content and see to it that the logistics arrangements contained in the book of specifications give priority to the use of Québec products

2° Favour the use of solutions that allow the quality of the environment to be maintained and improved.

34. No construction projects may be awarded to a supplier unless he meets the following conditions:

1° Holds the licence required by virtue of the Building Act [L.R.Q., c. B-1.1];

2° If the supplier will act as an employer as described in the Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational training and Manpower Management in the Construction Industry [L.R.Q., c. R-20; 1995, c. 8], he must be registered with the Commission de la construction du Québec, in accordance with the Regulation Respecting the Keeping of a Register and the Sending of a Monthly Report, approved by decree 875-93 of June 16, 1993.

35. All construction contracts must contain one clause stating that the supplier promises:

1° To grant a sub-contract, if needed, only to a sub-contactor who holds the required licence by virtue of the Building Act and, if this sub-contractor will act as an employer as described in the Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training and Manpower Management in the Construction Industry, that he be registered with the Commission de la construction du Québec, in accordance with the Regulation Respecting the Keeping of a Register and the Sending of a Monthly Report

2° To require its sub-contractors to grant sub-contracts, if needed, only to sub-contractors who satisfy the conditions stated in paragraph 1.

SECTION VI
SPECIAL AUTHORIZATIONS

36. When a contract is granted according to rules that are different than those described in the adopted rules and made public by the organization, or when the contract follows a non-solicited proposal, it must be approved by the board of directors.

SECTION VII
EFFECTIVE DATE

37. These regulations are valid as of January 1, 2001, and replace all previous regulations on how the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec grants contracts.