CONTRACT MANAGEMENT POLICY

Transcription

1 CONTRACT MANAGEMENT POLICY Division I : General provisions 1. Purpose The Town of Kirkland hereby establishes various rules pertaining to contract management with a view to promoting transparency, fairness, integrity and sound contract management, in the best interests of the community. The Town also encourages competition for purposes of obtaining the best possible prices, while considering the quality of goods and services offered as well as delivery lead time and suppliers reliability. 2. Scope Subject to the provisions of the Cities and Towns Act, this policy applies to all contracts entered into by the Town that result in an expenditure for the municipality. It is binding on the administration and its designated representatives as well as on all bidders and other parties contracting with the Town. 3. Objectives Pursuant to the provisions of the Cities and Towns Act, the Town hereby implements measures to : i) ensure that no bidder or representative of a bidder has communicated or attempted to communicate with a member of the selection committee in order to influence the member concerning the call for tenders for which the bidder or representative submitted a tender ; ensure compliance with any applicable anti-bid-rigging legislation; i ensure compliance with the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act (chapter T ) and the code of conduct for lobbyists adopted under that Act; iv) prevent intimidation, influence peddling and corruption; v) prevent conflict of interest situations; vi) v prevent any other situation likely to compromise the impartiality or objectivity of the call for tenders or the management of the resulting contract; govern the making of decisions authorizing the amendment of a contract. Page 1 sur 7

2 4. Definitions For the purposes of this policy : «Administration» means an elected official, an officer or an employee of the Town; «Bidder» means an executive officer, director, shareholder or employee of a company who takes part in a tendering process. «Designated representative» means a person the Town has empowered to act on its behalf for purposes of carrying out a legal transaction with a third party, and who, for having accepted to act as such, is compelled to do so. Division II : Obligations of the administration and its designated representatives Subdivision I : provisions applicable to the administration and its designated representatives 5. Éthics The administration and its designated representatives hereby give an undertaking to bidders and contractors : i) To treat everyone fairly; i iv) To ensure transparency in the contracting process; To avoid all conflicts of interests and other situations that may provide personal advantage or gain; To refrain at all times from using their position to promote the awarding of a contract to a particular bidder ; v) To conduct themselves with integrity and honesty ; vi) To apply this policy in the best interests of the Town. 6. Confidentiality The administration and its designated representatives must, in all tendering and contracting processes, conduct themselves with absolute discretion and preserve the confidentiality of information disclosed to them with respect to such processes. Specifically, they must at all times and until the opening of tenders, refrain from disclosing information that may be used to determine the number or the identity of the persons who have submitted a tender or requested a copy of the call for tenders, of a document to which it refers or of an additional related document. A designated representative responsible for drafting up one or more documents pertaining to a call for tenders, or who assists the Town in carrying out such a process, must also preserve the confidentiality of the work undertaken in connection with his or her mandate. Page 2 sur 7

3 7. Site visits and information sessions Organizing site visits or information sessions regrouping several bidders, is prohibited. Should one or the other be required, the person in charge shall arrange for individual site visits or information sessions with each bidder, by appointment only and according to an established schedule to ensure that bidders do not meet. All questions asked by a bidder during a site visit or information session shall be written down and forwarded to the relevant municipal departments. All questions and answers shall be forwarded to all bidders. However, should a question require that the tender specifications be amended, the answer shall be submitted as an addendum. 8. Disclosure notification Where an officer or employee becomes aware of the fact that his or her relationship with a prospective bidder in a tendering process, contract award or contract completion process is likely to be perceived as a conflict of interests, he or she must immediately notify the Director General. 9. Gifts and other benefits The administration and its designated representatives must refuse all gifts or other benefits offered by an enterprise or a supplier, or by their representatives, in any tendering or contract award process. Subdivision II : provisions applicable to selection committees 10. Selection committee Where a system of bid weighting and evaluating is used, the selection committee shall be established prior to the commencement of the tendering process. The director general shall appoint the members of said committee pursuant to By-Law entitled Internal By-Law of the municipal Council pertaining to the delegation of powers in matters relating to contracts and to human resources. The Town Clerk or his delegate shall sit ex officio on all selection committees as secretary. As such, he shall assist, supervise and ensure the proper conduct of the committee s work but may not take part in their deliberations or vote. The selection committee shall evaluate the quality of each bid received without knowing the price, using the bid weighting grid provided with the tender documents. 11. Confidentiality During the tendering process, the administration shall ensure that the identity of the members of the selection committee is kept confidential. 12. Disclosure by a committee member Where a member of the selection committee or its secretary has a relationship with one or more bidders which may be perceived as a conflict of interests, whether said relationship is of a family, financial or other nature, he or she must immediately notify the director general. Page 3 sur 7

4 Division III : Obligations of the bidders or contractors 13. Statement In a tendering process, a bidder must sign the statement forming an integral part of the tender documents, attesting to the following : i) At the time he submits his bid, to the best of his knowledge, he has no family, financial or other ties that might be perceived as a conflict of interests, directly or indirectly, with one or several members of the municipal administration ; i He did not influence nor take part in the preparation of the tender specifications and documents, neither for personal gain nor to hinder the competition; During the tendering process, he did not attempt to communicate with the members of the administration involved in such process, including where relevant, the members of the selection committee, for the purpose of influencing their evaluation, appreciation or recommendation with respect to the awarding of the contract that was the subject of the process ; iv) He meets each and every requirement of the law and of this policy ; v) His tender was prepared without collusion and without communicating, making any arrangements or reaching any agreements with a competitor or with a third party, with respect to the pricing methods, factors or formulas used to determine the prices, or with respect to deciding whether or not to submit a bid that does not meet the tender specifications ; vi) In the five (5) years preceding the call for tenders, he was not convicted of an offense to any bid-rigging law. 14. Bidder s Commitment During the tendering process, the bidder undertakes on his own behalf as well as on behalf of his sub-contractors, not to retain the services of a person who has privileged information with respect to the preparation of the call for tenders for which he is submitting a bid, or who took part in such a process. 15. Gifts and other benefits It is prohibited for a bidder or a contractor to offer a gift or any other benefit to a member of the administration or to one of its designated representatives, in connection with a tendering or contract awarding process. 16. Lobbying activities Unless it is recorded in the register provided for in the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act (R.S.Q., chapter T ), it is prohibited for any bidder or contractor to have communications with the administration or its designated representatives in order to influence them or that may reasonably be considered by the initiator of the communication as capable of influencing a decision concerning : Page 4 sur 7

5 The development, introduction, amendment or defeat of any proposal, resolution, regulation or policy; The discretionary awarding of any contract. The arranging by a lobbyist of a meeting between a public office holder and any other person is considered to be a lobbying activity. 17. Exceptions Do not constitute lobbying activities : i) The fact for a bidder or contractor to reply to a request initiated by a member of the administration or one of its designated representatives, including submissions made in connection with calls for public tenders issued under the Town s authority ; Communications for the sole purpose of inquiring as to the nature or scope of the rights or obligations of a client, an enterprise or a group pursuant to the law. Les communications ayant pour seul objet de s enquérir de la nature ou de la portée des droits ou obligations d un client, d une entreprise ou d un groupement en application de la loi. 18. Declaration A bidder or a contractor must declare that, if any communications took place for purposes of influencing in order to secure a contract, they took place in compliance with the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act (R.S.Q., chapter T ), with the Code of Conduct for Lobbyists and with all notices issued by the Lobbyists Commissioner. Division IV : Contracts Subdivision I : Provisions applicable to all contracts 19. Contract management An amendment to a contract is permissible, provided said amendment is accessory, it does not change the nature of the contract, and it does not pertain to an element that could predictably have been included in the original contract. However, a modification resulting in an additional expenditure must be justified, in writing, by the person in charge of the contract or by the person who may approve such expenditure and who, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations, is authorized to do so. No project, requirement, contract or order may be split up or divided into several elements having similar subject matter so as to favor a particular contractor, or to avoid that its process be subjected to a control procedure or obligation provided for in this policy. Page 5 sur 7

6 Subdivision II : Special provisions applicable to contracts for more than $25, Call for tenders For a contract award process involving an estimated value of more than $25,000 but less than $100,000, tendering documents shall be supplied by the person designated by the administration. For a contract award process involving an estimated value of more than $100,000, tendering documents shall be supplied by the electronic tendering system SE@O (Système électronique d appel d offres). 21. Documents Tendering documents must be prepared with fairness, objectivity and clarity. All available information concerning a call for tenders must be impartially and uniformly accessible to all prospective bidders. 22. Group purchasing To procure goods and services, the Town shall promote, where the nature of the contract to be awarded warrants it, the use of a group purchasing system, inasmuch as such a system is already in place or where the Town is joining other municipalities to implement such a system. Division V : Administrative provisions 23. Director General The Director General is charged with enforcing this policy. He shall inform every member of the administration who is required to perform one or more tasks related to awarding or managing municipal contracts, of the rules established by this policy. 24. Reporting Every member of the administration has the duty to report to the director general any situation, behavior or action that could potentially compromise the integrity of a contract award process. Any person may also report such situations to the complaints handling coordinator of the Ministère des Affaires Municipales, des Régions et de l Occupation du Territoire. 25. Sanctions respecting the administration All members of the administration must abide by the rules and regulations established in this policy, on pain of the sanctions provided for in the Cities and Towns Act. 26. Sanctions respecting the bidder The tender submitted by a bidder who, directly or indirectly, breaches any of his obligations under this policy, will automatically be rejected where the seriousness of said breach justifies it. Page 6 sur 7

7 Said breach may also result in the bidder having his name stricken off the list of suppliers of the Town for discretionary contracts and invitational bids, for a maximum period of five (5) years. 27. Sanctions respecting designated representatives The Town may unilaterally terminate the contract of a designated representative who breaches this policy, in addition to imposing any penalty that may be stipulated in the contract binding him to the Town. The name of said representative may also be stricken off the list of suppliers of the Town for discretionary contracts and invitational bids, for a maximum period of five (5) years. Page 7 sur 7