Val-Morin disagrees with a decision of the Court

Matthew Payen

Sunday, 23 July 2017 20:54

UPDATE
Sunday, 23 July 2017 20:54

Look at this article

Obliged to pay $ 372,000 in a company unfairly disqualified from a tendering process, the municipality of Val-Morin is preparing to appeal the judgment.

“The decision (of the Court) and the amount to be paid we was surprised because the loss of profit of the enterprise is not self-evident “, commented briefly on the director-general of the City, Pierre Delage.

The facts date back to 2010, when the town of less than 3000 inhabitants of the Laurentians has decided to do work on the rue Morin on the 7th and 9th Avenues. She then launched two calls for tenders which has, in particular, responded to the company TGC, based in Saint-Jérôme.

It has proven to be the lowest bidder, but the municipality refused to award the two contracts due to non-compliance of its bid.

$0.01 per

He was asked companies to provide details of the cost of all items required for the work. “The unit prices quoted by the tenderer for the various items must be proportionate, that is to say neither too high nor too low “, stated the specifications.

However, on several occasions, the company TGC has indicated that artificially low prices of $ 0.01 which did not correspond to the actual costs, hence his disqualification.

Last month, the superior Court has finally judged to be minor this non-compliance, they do not see a sufficient reason to deny him the contracts.

“Municipalities enjoy a certain latitude in the analysis of the conformity of the submissions, as stated in the judgment. The municipality may not take refuge behind this discretion to deny unduly to accept the lowest bid. “

The contractor who was in pursuit of Val-Morin for 523 000 $, that is, the benefit that it considered to have lost, finally got to 372 000 $. The Court held in its judgment that the losses to the contractor have been offset by other contracts that he would not have honor if he had done the work for the account of the municipality.

The City solicitor, Daniel Goupil, confirmed on Sunday to the Newspaper that an appeal would be filed next week.

Contacted, the company TGC has not responded to our calls.

Whatever the final decision, this will be at the Mutual of Quebec municipalities to pay fees, if there are any, and not to the citizens of Val-Morin.