Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways)

Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways)
Collection
Supreme Court Judgments
Date
2010-02-12
Neutral citation
2010 SCC 4
Report
[2010] 1 SCR 69
Case number
32460
Judges
McLachlin, Beverley; Binnie, William Ian Corneil; LeBel, Louis; Deschamps, Marie; Fish, Morris J.; Abella, Rosalie Silberman; Charron, Louise; Rothstein, Marshall; Cromwell, Thomas Albert
On appeal from
British Columbia
Subjects
Contract
Notes
SCC Case Information: 32460
Decision Content
SUPREME COURT OF CANADA
Citation: Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways), 2010 SCC 4, [2010] 1 S.C.R. 69
Date: 20100212
Docket: 32460
Between:
Tercon Contractors Ltd.
Appellant
and
Her Majesty The Queen in Right of the Province of British
Columbia, by her Ministry of Transportation and Highways
Respondent
‑ and ‑
Attorney General of Ontario
Intervener
Coram: McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, LeBel, Deschamps, Fish, Abella, Charron, Rothstein and Cromwell JJ.
Reasons for Judgment:
(paras. 1 to 80)
Dissenting Reasons:
(paras. 81 to 142)
Cromwell J. (LeBel, Deschamps, Fish and Charron JJ. concurring)
Binnie J. (McLachlin C.J. and Abella and Rothstein JJ. concurring)
______________________________
Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways), 2010 SCC 4, [2010] 1 S.C.R. 69
Tercon Contractors Ltd. Appellant
v.
Her Majesty The Queen in Right of the Province of British
Columbia, by her Ministry of Transportation and Highways Respondent
and
Attorney General of Ontario Intervener
Indexed as: Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways)
2010 SCC 4
File No.: 32460.
2009: March 23; 2010: February 12.
Present: McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, LeBel, Deschamps, Fish, Abella, Charron, Rothstein and Cromwell JJ.
on appeal from the court of appeal for british columbia
Contracts — Breach of terms — Tender — Ineligible bidder — Exclusion of liability clause — Doctrine of fundamental breach — Province issuing tender call for construction of highway — Request for proposals restricting qualified bidders to six proponents — Province accepting bid from ineligible bidder — Exclusion clause protecting Province from liability arising from participation in tendering process — Whether Province breached terms of tendering contract in entertaining bid from ineligible bidder — If so, whether Province’s conduct fell within terms of exclusion clause — If so, whether court should nevertheless refuse to enforce the exclusion clause because of unconscionability or some other contravention of public policy.
The Province of British Columbia issued a request for expressions of interest (“RFEI”) for the design and construction of a highway. Six teams responded with submissions including Tercon and Brentwood. A few months later, the Province informed the six proponents that it now intended to design the highway itself and issued a request for proposals (“RFP”) for its construction. The RFP set out a specifically defined project and contemplated that proposals would be evaluated according to specific criteria. Under its terms, only the six original proponents were eligible to submit a proposal; those received from any other party would not be considered. The RFP also included an exclusion of liability clause which provided: “Except as expressly and specifically permitted in these Instructions to Proponents, no Proponent shall have any claim for compensation of any kind whatsoever, as a result of participating in this RFP, and by submitting a Proposal each Proponent shall be deemed to have agreed that it has no claim.” As it lacked expertise in drilling and blasting, Brentwood entered into a pre‑bidding agreement with another construction company (“EAC”), which was not a qualified bidder, to undertake the work as a joint venture. This arrangement allowed Brentwood to prepare a more competitive proposal. Ultimately, Brentwood submitted a bid in its own name with EAC listed as a “major member” of the team. Brentwood and Tercon were the two short‑listed proponents and the Province selected Brentwood for the project. Tercon successfully brought an action in damages against the Province. The trial judge found that the Brentwood bid was, in fact, submitted by a joint venture of Brentwood and EAC and that the Province, which was aware of the situation, breached the express provisions of the tendering contract with Tercon by considering a bid from an ineligible bidder and by awarding it the work. She also held that, as a matter of construction, the exclusion clause did not bar recovery for the breaches she had found. The clause was ambiguous and she resolved this ambiguity in Tercon’s favour. She held that the Province’s breach was fundamental and that it was not fair or reasonable to enforce the exclusion clause in light of the Province’s breach. The Court of Appeal set aside the decision, holding that the exclusion clause was clear and unambiguous and barred compensation for all defaults.
Held (McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, Abella and Rothstein JJ. dissenting): The appeal should be allowed. The Court agreed on the appropriate framework of analysis but divided on the applicability of the exclusion clause to the facts.
The Court: With respect to the appropriate framework of analysis the doctrine of fundamental breach should be “laid to rest”. The following analysis should be applied when a plaintiff seeks to escape the effect of an exclusion clause or other contractual terms to which it had previously agreed. The first issue is whether, as a matter of interpretation, the exclusion clause even applies to the circumstances established in evidence. This will depend on the court’s interpretation of the intention of the parties as expressed in the contract. If the exclusion clause applies, the second issue is whether the exclusion clause was unconscionable and thus invalid at the time the contract was made. If the exclusion clause is held to be valid at the time of contract formation and applicable to the facts of the case, a third enquiry may be raised as to whether the court should nevertheless refuse to enforce the exclusion clause because of an overriding public policy. The burden of persuasion lies on the party seeking to avoid enforcement of the clause to demonstrate an abuse of the freedom of contract that outweighs the very strong public interest in their enforcement. Conduct approaching serious criminality or egregious fraud are but examples of well‑accepted considerations of public policy that are substantially incontestable and may override the public policy of freedom to contract and disable the defendant from relying upon the exclusion clause. Despite agreement on the appropriate framework of analysis, the court divided on the applicability of the exclusion clause to the facts of this case as set out below.
Per LeBel, Deschamps, Fish, Charron and Cromwell JJ.: The Province breached the express provisions of the tendering contract with Tercon by accepting a bid from a party who should not even have been permitted to participate in the tender process and by ultimately awarding the work to that ineligible bidder. This egregious conduct by the Province also breached the implied duty of fairness to bidders. The exclusion clause, which barred claims for compensation “as a result of participating” in the tendering process, did not, when properly interpreted, exclude Tercon’s claim for damages. By considering a bid from an ineligible bidder, the Province not only acted in a way that breached the express and implied terms of the contract, it did so in a manner that was an affront to the integrity and business efficacy of the tendering process.
Submitting a compliant bid in response to a tender call may give rise to “Contract A” between the bidder and the owner. Whether a Contract A arises and what its terms are depends on the express and implied terms and conditions of the tender call and the legal consequences of the parties’ actual dealings in each case. Here, there is no basis to interfere with the trial judge’s findings that there was an intent to create contractual obligations upon submission of a compliant bid and that only the six original proponents that qualified through the RFEI process were eligible to submit a response to the RFP. The tender documents and the required ministerial approval of the process stated expressly that the Province was contractually bound to accept bids only from eligible bidders. Contract A therefore could not arise by the submission of a bid from any other party. The trial judge found that the joint venture of Brentwood and EAC was not eligible to bid as they had not simply changed the composition of their team but, in effect, had created a new bidder. The Province fully understood this and would not consider a bid from or award the work to that joint venture. The trial judge did not err in finding that in fact, if not in form, Brentwood’s bid was on behalf of a joint venture between itself and EAC. The joint venture provided Brentwood with a competitive advantage in the bidding process and was a material consideration in favour of the Brentwood bid during the Province’s evaluation process. Moreover, the Province took active steps to obfuscate the reality of the true nature of the Brentwood bid. The bid by the joint venture constituted “material non‑compliance” with the tendering contract and breached both the express eligibility provisions of the tender documents, and the implied duty to act fairly towards all bidders.
When the exclusion clause is interpreted in harmony with the rest of the RFP and in light of the commercial context of the tendering process, it did not exclude a damages claim resulting from the Province unfairly permitting an ineligible bidder to participate in the tendering process. The closed list of bidders was the foundation of this RFP and the parties should, at the very least, be confident that their initial bids will not be skewed by some underlying advantage in the drafting of the call for tenders conferred only upon one potential bidder. The requirement that only compliant bids be considered and the implied obligation to treat bidders fairly are factors that contribute to the integrity and business efficacy of the tendering process. The parties did not intend, through the words found in this exclusion clause, to waive compensation for conduct, like that of the Province in this case, that strikes at the heart of the tendering process. Clear language would be necessary to exclude liability for breach of the implied obligation, particularly in the case of public procurement where transparency is essential. Furthermore, the restriction on eligibility of bidders was a key element of the alternative process approved by the Minister. When the statutory provisions which governed the tendering process in this case are considered, it seems unlikely that the parties intended through this exclusion clause to effectively gut a key aspect of the approved process. The text of the exclusion clause in the RFP addresses claims that result from “participating in this RFP”. Central to “participating in this RFP” was participating in a contest among those eligible to participate. A process involving other bidders — the process followed by the Province — is not the process called for by “this RFP” and being part of that other process is not in any meaningful sense “participating in this RFP”.
Per McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, Abella and Rothstein JJ. (dissenting): The Ministry’s conduct, while in breach of its contractual obligations, fell within the terms of the exclusion compensation clause. The clause is clear and unambiguous and no legal ground or rule of law permits a court to override the freedom of the parties to contract with respect to this particular term, or to relieve Tercon against its operation in this case. A court has no discretion to refuse to enforce a valid and applicable contractual term unless the plaintiff can point to some paramount consideration of public policy sufficient to override the public interest in freedom of contact and defeat what would otherwise be the contractual rights of the parties. The public interest in the transparency and integrity of the government tendering process, while important, did not render unenforceable the terms of the contract Tercon agreed to.
Brentwood was a legitimate competitor in the RFP process and all bidders knew that the road contract would not be performed by the proponent alone and required a large “team” of different trades and personnel to perform. The issue was whether EAC would be on the job as a major sub‑contractor or identified with Brentwood as a joint venture “proponent” with EAC. Tercon has legitimate reason to complain about the Ministry’s conduct, but its misconduct did not rise to the level where public policy would justify the court in depriving the Ministry of the protection of the exclusion of compensation clause freely agreed to by Tercon in the contract.
Contract A is based not on some abstract externally imposed rule of law but on the presumed (and occasionally implied) intent of the parties. At issue is the intention of the actual parties not what the court may project in hindsight would have been the intention of reasonable parties. Only in rare circumstances will a court relieve a party from the bargain it has made.
The exclusion clause did not run afoul of the statutory requirements. While the Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act favours “the integrity of the tendering process”, it nowhere prohibits the parties from negotiating a “no claims” clause as part of their commercial agreement and cannot plausibly be interpreted to have that effect. Tercon — a sophisticated and experienced contractor — chose to bid on the project, including the risk posed by an exclusion of compensation clause, on the terms proposed by the Ministry. That was its prerogative and nothing in the “policy of the Act” barred the parties’ agreement on that point.
The trial judge found that Contract A was breached when the RFP process was not conducted by the Ministry with the degree of fairness and transparency that the terms of Contract A entitled Tercon to expect. The Ministry was at fault in its performance of the RFP, but the process did not thereby cease to be the RFP process in which Tercon had elected to participate.
The interpretation of the majority on this point is disagreed with. “[P]articipating in this RFP” began with “submitting a Proposal” for consideration. The RFP process consisted of more than the final selection of the winning bid and Tercon participated in it. Tercon’s bid was considered. To deny that such participation occurred on the ground that in the end the Ministry chose a Brentwood joint venture (an ineligible bidder) instead of Brentwood itself (an eligible bidder) would be to give the clause a strained and artificial interpretation in order, indirectly and obliquely, to avoid the impact of what may seem to the majority ex post facto to have been an unfair and unreasonable clause.
Moreover, the exclusion clause was not unconscionable. While the Ministry and Tercon do not exercise the same level of power and authority, Tercon is a major contractor and is well able to look after itself in a commercial context so there is no relevant imbalance of bargaining power. Further, the clause is not as draconian as Tercon portrays it. Other remedies for breach of Contract A were available. The parties expected, even if they did not like it, that the “no claims” clause would operate even where the eligibility criteria in respect of the bid (including the bidder) were not complied with.
Finally, the Ministry’s misconduct did not rise to the level where public policy would justify the court in depriving the Ministry of the protection of the exclusion of compensation clause freely agreed to by Tercon in the contract.
Cases Cited
By Cromwell J.
Applied: M.J.B. Enterprises Ltd. v. Defence Construction (1951) Ltd., [1999] 1 S.C.R. 619; Martel Building Ltd. v. Canada, 2000 SCC 60, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 860; considered: Hunter Engineering Co. v. Syncrude Canada Ltd., [1989] 1 S.C.R. 426; Cahill (G.J.) & Co. (1979) Ltd. v. Newfoundland and Labrador (Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs), 2005 NLTD 129, 250 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 145; Guarantee Co. of North America v. Gordon Capital Corp., [1999] 3 S.C.R. 423; Fraser Jewellers (1982) Ltd. v. Dominion Electric Protection Co. (1997), 34 O.R. (3d) 1; referred to: Canadian Pacific Hotels Ltd. v. Bank of Montreal, [1987] 1 S.C.R. 711; Double N Earthmovers Ltd. v. Edmonton (City), 2007 SCC 3, [2007] 1 S.C.R. 116; Hillis Oil and Sales Ltd. v. Wynn’s Canada, Ltd., [1986] 1 S.C.R. 57.
By Binnie J. (dissenting)
Hunter Engineering Co. v. Syncrude Canada Ltd., [1989] 1 S.C.R. 426; The Queen in right of Ontario v. Ron Engineering & Construction (Eastern) Ltd., [1981] 1 S.C.R. 111; M.J.B. Enterprises Ltd. v. Defence Construction (1951) Ltd., [1999] 1 S.C.R. 619; Naylor Group Inc. v. Ellis‑Don Construction Ltd., 2001 SCC 58, [2001] 2 S.C.R. 943; Martel Building Ltd. v. Canada, 2000 SCC 60, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 860; Double N Earthmovers Ltd. v. Edmonton (City), 2007 SCC 3, [2007] 1 S.C.R. 116; Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (1993), 9 C.L.R. (2d) 197, aff’d [1994] B.C.J. No. 2658 (QL); Karsales (Harrow) Ltd. v. Wallis, [1956] 1 W.L.R. 936; Guarantee Co. of North America v. Gordon Capital Corp., [1999] 3 S.C.R. 423; ABB Inc. v. Domtar Inc., 2007 SCC 50, [2007] 3 S.C.R. 461; Re Millar Estate, [1938] S.C.R. 1; Plas‑Tex Canada Ltd. v. Dow Chemical of Canada Ltd., 2004 ABCA 309, 245 D.L.R. (4th) 650.
Statutes and Regulations Cited
Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 311, ss. 4, 23.
Authors Cited
Hall, Geoff R. Canadian Contractual Interpretation Law. Markham, Ont.: LexisNexis, 2007.
Kain, Brandon, and Douglas T. Yoshida. “The Doctrine of Public Policy in Canadian Contract Law”, in Todd L. Archibald and Randall Scott Echlin, eds., Annual Review of Civil Litigation, 2007. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2007, 1.
McCamus, John D. The Law of Contracts. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2005.
Waddams, S. M. The Law of Contracts, 5th ed. Aurora, Ont.: Canada Law Book, 2005.
APPEAL from a judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal (Donald, Mackenzie and Lowry JJ.A.), 2007 BCCA 592, 73 B.C.L.R. (4th) 201, 40 B.L.R. (4th) 26, 289 D.L.R. (4th) 647, [2008] 2 W.W.R. 410, 249 B.C.A.C. 103, 414 W.A.C. 103, 66 C.L.R. (3d) 1, [2007] B.C.J. No. 2558 (QL), 2007 CarswellBC 2880, setting aside a decision of Dillon J., 2006 BCSC 499, 53 B.C.L.R. (4th) 138, [2006] 6 W.W.R. 275, 18 B.L.R. (4th) 88, 51 C.L.R. (3d) 227, [2006] B.C.J. No. 657 (QL), 2006 CarswellBC 730. Appeal allowed, McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, Abella and Rothstein JJ. dissenting.
Chris R. Armstrong, Brian G. McLean, William S. McLean and Marie‑France Major, for the appellant.
J. Edward Gouge, Q.C., Jonathan Eades and Kate Hamm, for the respondent.
Malliha Wilson and Lucy McSweeney, for the intervener.
The judgment of LeBel, Deschamps, Fish, Charron and Cromwell JJ. was delivered by
Cromwell J. —
I. Introduction
[1] The Province accepted a bid from a bidder who was not eligible to participate in the tender and then took steps to ensure that this fact was not disclosed. The main question on appeal, as I see it, is whether the Province succeeded in excluding its liability for damages flowing from this conduct through an exclusion clause it inserted into the contract. I share the view of the trial judge that it did not.
[2] The appeal arises out of a tendering contract between the appellant, Tercon Contractors Ltd., who was the bidder, and the respondent, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia, who issued the tender call. The case turns on the interpretation of provisions in the contract relating to eligibility to bid and exclusion of compensation resulting from participation in the tendering process.
[3] The trial judge found that the respondent (which I will refer to as the Province) breached the express provisions of the tendering contract with Tercon by accepting a bid from another party who was not eligible to bid and by ultimately awarding the work to that ineligible bidder. In short, a bid was accepted and the work awarded to a party who should not even have been permitted to participate in the tender process. The judge also found that this and related conduct by the Province breached the implied duty of fairness to bidders, holding that the Province had acted “egregiously” (2006 BCSC 499, 53 B.C.L.R. (4th) 138, at para. 150). The judge then turned to the Province’s defence based on an exclusion clause that barred claims for compensation “as a result of participating” in the tendering process. She held that this clause, properly interpreted, did not exclude Tercon’s claim for damages. In effect, she held that it was not within the contemplation of the parties that this clause would bar a remedy in damages arising from the Province’s unfair dealings with a party who was not entitled to participate in the tender in the first place.
[4] The Province appealed and the Court of Appeal reversed (2007 BCCA 592, 73 B.C.L.R. (4th) 201). Dealing only with the exclusion clause issue, it held that the clause was clear and unambiguous and barred compensation for all defaults.
[5] On Tercon’s appeal to this Court, the questions for us are whether the successful bidder was eligible to participate in the request for proposals (“RFP”) and, if not, whether Tercon’s claim for damages is barred by the exclusion clause.
[6] In my respectful view, the trial judge reached the right result on both issues. The Province’s attempts to persuade us that it did not breach the tendering contract are, in my view, wholly unsuccessful. The foundation of the tendering contract was that only six, pre-selected bidders would be permitted to participate in the bidding. As the trial judge held, the Province not only acted in a way that breached the express and implied terms of the contract by considering a bid from an ineligible bidder, it did so in a manner that was an affront to the integrity and business efficacy of the tendering process. One must not lose sight of the fact that the trial judge found that the Province acted egregiously by “ensuring that [the true bidder] was not disclosed” (para. 150) and that its breach “attacke[d] the underlying premise of the [tendering] process” (para. 146), a process which was set out in detail in the contract and, in addition, had been given ministerial approval as required by statute.
[7] As for its reliance on the exclusion clause, the Province submits that the parties were free to agree to limitations of liability and did so. Consideration of this submission requires an interpretation of the words of the clause to which the parties agreed in the context of the contract as a whole. My view is that, properly interpreted, the exclusion clause does not protect the Province from Tercon’s damage claim which arises from the Province’s dealings with a party not even eligible to bid, let alone from its breach of the implied duty of fairness to bidders. In other words, the Province’s liability did not arise from Tercon’s participation in the process that the Province established, but from the Province’s unfair dealings with a party who was not entitled to participate in that process.
[8] I would allow the appeal and restore the judgment of the trial judge.
II. Brief Overview of the Facts
[9] I will have to set out more factual detail as part of my analysis. For now, a very brief summary will suffice. In 2000, the Ministry of Transportation and Highways (also referred to as the “Province”) issued a request for expressions of interest (“RFEI”) for designing and building a highway in northwestern British Columbia. Six teams made submissions, including Tercon and Brentwood Enterprises Ltd. Later that year, the Province informed the six proponents that it now intended to design the highway itself and would issue a RFP for its construction.
[10] The RFP was formally issued on January 15, 2001. Under its terms, only the six original proponents were eligible to submit a proposal. The RFP also included a clause excluding all claims for damages “as a result of participating in this RFP” (s. 2.10).
[11] Unable to submit a competitive bid on its own, Brentwood teamed up with Emil Anderson Construction Co. (“EAC”), which was not a qualified bidder, and together they submitted a bid in Brentwood’s name. Brentwood and Tercon were the two short-listed proponents and the Ministry ultimately selected Brentwood as the preferred proponent.
[12] Tercon brought an action seeking damages, alleging that the Ministry had considered and accepted an ineligible bid and that, but for that breach, it would have been awarded the contract. The trial judge agreed and awarded roughly $3.5 million in damages and prejudgment interest. As noted, the Court of Appeal reversed and Tercon appeals by leave of the Court.
III. Issues
[13] The issues for decision are whether the trial judge erred in finding that:
1. the Province breached the tendering contract by entertaining a bid from an ineligible bidder.
2. the exclusion clause does not bar the appellant’s claim for damages for the breaches of the tendering contract found by the trial judge.
IV. Analysis
A. Was the Brentwood Bid Ineligible?
[14] The first issue is whether the Brentwood bid was from an eligible bidder. The judge found that the bid was in substance, although not in form, from a joint venture of Brentwood and EAC and that it was, therefore, an ineligible bid. The Province attacks this finding on three grounds:
(i) a joint venture is not a legal person and therefore the Province could not and did not contract with a joint venture;
(ii) it did not award the contract to EAC and EAC had no contractual responsibility to the Province for failure to perform the contract;
(iii) there was no term of the RFP that restricted the right of proponents to enter into joint venture agreements with others; this arrangement merely left Brentwood, the original proponent, in place and allowed it to enhance its ability to perform the work.
[15] While these were the Province’s main points, its position became more wide-ranging during oral argument, at times suggesting that it had no contractual obligation to deal only with eligible bidders. It is therefore necessary to take a step back and look at that threshold point before turning to the Province’s more focussed submissions.
1. The Province’s Contractual Obligations in the Bidding Process
[16] The judge found, and it was uncontested at trial, that only the six original proponents that qualified through the RFEI process were eligible to submit a response to the RFP. This finding is not challenged on appeal, although there was a passing suggestion during oral argument that there was no contractual obligation of this sort at all. The trial judge also held, noting that this point was uncontested, that a joint venture between Brentwood and EAC was ineligible to bid. This is also not contested on appeal. These two findings are critical to the case and provide important background for an issue that is in dispute, namely whether the Brentwood bid was ineligible. It is, therefore, worth reviewing the relevant background in detail. I first briefly set out the legal framework and then turn to the trial judge’s findings.
2. Legal Principles
[17] Submitting a compliant bid in response to a tender call may give rise to a contract — called Contract A — between the bidder and the owner, the express terms of which are found in the tender documents. The contract may also have implied terms according to the principles set out in Canadian Pacific Hotels Ltd. v. Bank of Montreal, [1987] 1 S.C.R. 711; see also M.J.B. Enterprises Ltd. v. Defence Construction (1951) Ltd., [1999] 1 S.C.R. 619, and Martel Building Ltd. v. Canada, 2000 SCC 60, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 860. The key word, however, is “may”. The Contract A/Contract B framework is one that arises, if at all, from the dealings between the parties. It is not an artificial construct imposed by the courts, but a description of the legal consequences of the parties’ actual dealings. The Court emphasized in M.J.B. that whether Contract A arises and if it does, what its terms are, depend on the express and implied terms and conditions of the tender call in each case. As Iacobucci J. put it, at para. 19:
What is important . . . is that the submission of a tender in response to an invitation to tender may give rise to contractual obligations, quite apart from the obligations associated with the construction contract to be entered into upon the acceptance of a tender, depending upon whether the parties intend to initiate contractual relations by the submission of a bid. If such a contract arises, its terms are governed by the terms and conditions of the tender call. [Emphasis added.]
3. The Trial Judge’s Findings Concerning the Existence of Contract A
[18] The question of whether Tercon’s submission of a compliant bid gave rise to contractual relations between it and the Province was contested by the Province at trial. The trial judge gave extensive reasons for finding against the Province on this issue. We are told that the Province did not pursue this point in the Court of Appeal but instead premised its submissions on the existence of Contract A. The Province took the same approach in its written submissions in this Court. However, during oral argument, there was some passing reference in response to questions that there was no Contract A. In light of the position taken by the Province on its appeal to the Court of Appeal and in its written submissions in this Court, it is now too late to revisit whether there were contractual duties between Tercon and the Province. Even if it were open to the Province to make this argument now, I can see no error in legal principle or any palpable and overriding error of fact in the trial judge’s careful reasons on this point.
[19] The trial judge did not mechanically impose the Contract A/Contract B framework, but considered whether Contract A arose in light of her detailed analysis of the dealings between the parties. That was the right approach. She reviewed in detail the provisions of the RFP which supported her conclusion that there was an intent to create contractual relations upon submission of a compliant bid. She noted, for example, that bids were to be irrevocable for 60 days and that security of $50,000 had to be paid by all proponents and was to be increased to $200,000 by the successful proponent. Any revisions to proposals prior to the closing date had to be in writing, properly executed and received before the closing time. The RFP also set out detailed evaluation criteria and specified that they were to be the only criteria to be used to evaluate proposals. A specific form of alliance agreement was attached. There were detailed provisions about pricing that were fixed and non-negotiable. A proponent was required to accept this form of contract substantially, and security was lost if an agreement was not executed. The Ministry reserved a right to cancel the RFP under s. 2.9 but in such event was obliged to reimburse proponents for costs incurred in preparing their bids up to $15,000 each. Proponents had to submit a signed proposal form, which established that they offered to execute an agreement substantially in the form included in the RFP package. Further, they acknowledged that the security could be forfeited if they were selected as the preferred proponent and failed to enter into good faith discussions with the Ministry to reach an agreement and sign the alliance agreement.
[20] In summary, as the trial judge found, the RFP set out a specifically defined project, invited proposals from a closed and specific list of eligible proponents, and contemplated that proposals would be evaluated according to specific criteria. Negotiation of the alliance construction contract was required, but the negotiation was constrained and did not go to the fundamental details of either the procurement process or the ultimate contract.
[21] There is, therefore, no basis to interfere with the judge’s finding that there was an intent to create contractual obligations upon submission of a compliant bid. I add, however, that the tender call in this case did not give rise to the classic Contract A/Contract B framework in which the bidder submits an irrevocable bid and undertakes to enter into Contract B on those terms if it is accepted. The alliance model process which was used here was more complicated than that and involved good faith negotiations for a Contract B in the form set out in the tender documents. But in my view, this should not distract us from the main question here. We do not have to spell out all of the terms of Contract A, let alone of Contract B, so as to define all of the duties and obligations of both the bidders and the Province. The question here is much narrower: did contractual obligations arise as a result of Tercon’s compliant bid and, if so, was it a term of that contract that the Province would only entertain bids from eligible bidders? The trial judge found offer, acceptance and consideration in the invitation to tender and Tercon’s bid. There is no basis, in my respectful view, to challenge that finding even if it were open to the Province to try to do so at this late stage of the litigation.
4. The Trial Judge’s Finding Concerning Eligibility
[22] It was not contested at trial that only the six original proponents that qualified through the RFEI process were eligible to bid. This point is not in issue on appeal; the question is what this eligibility requirement means. It will be helpful, therefore, to set out the background about this limited eligibility to bid in this tendering process.
[23] To begin, it is worth repeating that there is no doubt that the Province was contractually bound to accept bids only from eligible bidders. This duty may be implied even absent express stipulation. For example, in M.J.B., the Court found that an implied obligation to accept only compliant bids was necessary to give business efficacy to the tendering process, noting, at para. 41, that a bidder must expend effort and incur expense in preparing its bid and must submit bid security and that it is “obvious” that it makes “little sense” for the bidder to comply with these requirements if the owner “is allowed, in effect, to circumscribe this process and accept a non-compliant bid”. But again, whether such a duty should be implied in any given case will depend on the dealings between the parties. Here, however, there is no need to rely on implied terms. The obligation to consider only bids from eligible bidders was stated expressly in the tender documents and in the required ministerial approval of the process which they described.
[24] As noted, in early 2000, the Province issued a RFEI based on a design-build model; the contractor would both design and build the highway. The RFEI contemplated that a short list of three qualified contractors, or teams composed of contractors and consultants, would be nominated as proponents. Each was to provide a description of the legal structure of the team and to describe the role of each team member along with the extent of involvement of each team member as a percentage of the total scope of the project and an organization chart showing each team member’s role. Any change in team management or key positions required notice in writing to the Province which reserved the right to disqualify the proponent if the change materially and negatively affected the ability of the team to carry out the project.
[25] Expressions of interest (“EOI”) were received from six teams including Tercon and Brentwood. The evaluation panel and independent review panel recommended a short list of three proponents with Tercon topping the evaluation. Brentwood was evaluated fifth and was not on the short list. Brentwood was known to lack expertise in drilling and blasting and so its EOI had included an outline of the key team members with that experience. EAC did not participate and had no role in the Brentwood submission. The results of this evaluation were not communicated and the process did not proceed because the Province decided to design the project itself and issue an RFP for an alliance model contract to construct the highway.
[26] It was clear from the outset that only those who had submitted proposals during the RFEI process would be eligible to submit proposals under the RFP. This was specified in the approval of the process by the Minister of Transportation and Highways (“Minister”) before the RFP was issued. It is worth pausing here to briefly look at the Minister’s role.
[27] Pursuant to s. 23 of the Ministry of Transportation and Highways Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 311, the legislation in force at the relevant time, the Minister was required to invite public tenders for road construction unless he or she determined that another process would result in competitively established costs for the work. The section provided:
23 (1) The minister must invite tenders by public advertisement, or if that is impracticable, by public notice, for the construction and repair of all government buildings, highways and public works, except for the following:
. . .
(c) if the minister determines that an alternative contracting process will result in competitively established costs for the performance of the work.
(2) The minister must cause all tenders received to be opened in public, at a time and place stated in the advertisement or notice.
(3) The prices must be made known at the time the tenders are opened.
(4) In all cases where the minister believes it is not expedient to let the work to the lowest bidder, the minister must report to and obtain the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council before passing by the lowest tender, except if delay would be injurious to the public interest.
. . .
[28]These provisions make clear that the work in this case had to be awarded by public tender, absent the Minister’s approval of an alternative process, and had to be awarded to the lowest bidder, absent approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council. As noted, ministerial approval was given for an alternative process under s. 23(1)(c). The Minister issued a notice that, pursuant to that section, he approved the process set out in an attached document and had determined it to be an alternative contracting process that would result in competitively established costs for the performance of the work. The attached document outlined in seven numbered paragraphs the process that had been approved.
[29]The document described the background of the public RFEI (which I have set out earlier), noting that only those firms identified through the EOI process would be eligible to submit proposals for the work and that they would receive invitations to do so. The Minister’s approval in fact referred to the firms who had been short-listed from the RFEI process as being eligible. If this were taken to refer only to the three proponents identified by the evaluation process of the RFEI, Tercon would be included but Brentwood would not. However, no one has suggested that anything turns on this and it seems clear that ultimately all six of the RFEI proponents — including both Tercon and Brentwood — were intended to be eligible. The ministerial approval then briefly set out the process. Proposals “by short-listed firms” were to be evaluated “using the considerations set out in the RFP”.
[30]It is clear, therefore, that participation in the RFP process approved by the Minister was limited to those who had participated in the RFEI process.
[31]The Province’s factum implies that the Minister approved inclu