Procurement Litigation

We work closely with our Procurement specialists to actively help procuring agencies prevent litigation during requests for quotes and requests for proposal (RFPs). We also have significant familiarity and experience with various alternative dispute resolution procedures created by procuring authorities and have a track record of successfully and efficiently resolving procurement disputes.
 
We handle complex litigation through all stages, from pre-action correspondence to trial and appeal. Our Procurement Litigation lawyers have assisted clients in resolving all types of disputes related to public and private procurement processes, including novel cases involving the judicial review of procurement decisions. We have represented both procurement authority and bidder clients in Canada’s trial and appellate courts, such as the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, as well as before administrative tribunals, including the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.
 
Our team has been involved in some of the most important trial and appeal decisions in Canada. For instance, we were legal counsel in the first reported case in Ontario to address the judicial review of a public procuring entity’s decision to debar a bidder pursuant under a city procurement bylaw. Our lawyers in Calgary, Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver are helping to set precedents in this complex and growing area of law, making Blakes a leading procurement litigation law firm in Canada.
 
We assist procuring authorities and bidders in all aspects of procurement challenges in the following areas:

• Reviewing procurement and tender documents and evaluation and bidder qualification processes to assess the risk of a successful challenge to the process

• Using dispute resolution processes established under RFP procurement processes before the commencement of litigation

• Advising both bidders and procuring authorities about issues of alleged unfairness in the procuring process, including strategies in advancing and responding to bidder allegations of unfairness

Our experience also extends to dealing with disputes that arise in the context of P3 projects, such as complex construction and contractual P3 disputes.