The language of a tender or contract document needs to be simple and clear to provide the fairest grounds for tendering and procurement, and to avoid protracted legal disputes in the event of conflict, a legal seminar hosted February 26 by TDS Law stressed.
TDS lawyer Lisa Stiver walked members of the MHCA, along with representatives from the City of Winnipeg and Manitoba Transportation & Infrastructure, through foundational court decisions in the interpretation of a public project owner’s duty to disclose required information and criteria to bidders, and their duty in evaluating bids for award.
While trade treaties detail the rules for public entities’ tendering and award practices, the clearer and simpler the document language, the better, said Stiver, whose practice focuses on corporate and commercial law. Attendees of the seminar will receive Stiver’s slide deck.
Even when tender documents contain privilege clauses regarding, for example, bid criteria, courts have found that owner’s discretion cannot be exercised arbitrarily and any criteria must be disclosed to bidder.
The next legal seminars to be offered to MHCA members are:
- March 21 – TDS Law: working with MTI
- March 25 – MLT Aikins: industry risks rising tariffs on cross-border trade
MHCA will be sending members invitation to register for each seminar when details are firm.
