What Can Be Learned from Jurisprudential Developments in Public Contracts?

As part of their recent conference given at the Forum sur les contrats publics organized by Les Affaires, our partners Vicky Berthiaume and Simon Pelletier addressed recent case law on public contracts.

During a public call for tenders, the client has some freedom in analyzing the compliance of bids. However, this does not allow him to accept a bid with a major irregularity. Jurisprudence reveals practical examples of both major and minor irregularities and provides valuable guidelines to anyone who must decide on the compliance of a bid.

Moreover, recent case law on litigation arising out of a contract’s execution leads the unequivocal conclusion that the mere reading of an agreement’s wording is not enough to fully grasp its content, scope and possible consequences. Parties to a public contract must scrutinize their relationship to identify implied contractual requirements arising from the general duty of good faith.

In light of the foregoing, Vicky Berthiaume, Simon Pelletier, and Xavier Levert have put together a white paper in which the authors discuss major and minor irregularities in the requirements of tender documents along with the obligation of good faith in the conclusion and execution of contracts.

This white paper is a summary of recent jurisprudential developments in terms of public contracts and is made available to you (in French only).