IN THE MATTER OF a complaint filed pursuant to subsection 30.11(1) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. 47 (4th Supp.).

BY

XTM INTERNATIONAL

AGAINST

THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES

DECISION

Pursuant to subsection 30.13(1) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal has decided not to conduct an inquiry into the complaint.

STATEMENT OF REASONS

[1]  Subsection 30.11(1) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act [1] provides that, subject to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Procurement Inquiry Regulations, [2] a potential supplier may file a complaint with the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the Tribunal) concerning any aspect of the procurement process that relates to a designated contract and request the Tribunal to conduct an inquiry into the complaint. Subsection 30.13(1) of the CITT Act provides that, subject to the Regulations, after the Tribunal determines that a complaint complies with subsection 30.11(2) of the CITT Act, it shall decide whether to conduct an inquiry into the complaint.

BACKGROUND

[2]  On February 7, 2019, XTM International (XTM) filed a complaint with the Canadian International Trade Tribunal pursuant to subsection 30.11(1) of the CITT Act concerning a Request for Proposal (RFP) (Solicitation No. EN578-170004/B) by the Department of Public Works and Government Services (PWGSC) for a Linguistic Services Request Management System.

[3]  The solicitation process closed on January 10, 2019. XTM submitted its bid on January 18, 2019. It received a letter of regret from PWGSC on January 21, 2019, which informed XTM that its bid would not be accepted given that the solicitation process was closed at the time PWGSC received XTM’s bid.

[4]  XTM’s complaint is as follows:

• the solicitation process was irregular in that the bid closing date was moved forward eight days, as it was originally set for January 18, 2019, and that this amendment was made four days before the revised bid closing date;
• the process was anti-competitive given that XTM did not receive notifications with respect to this process despite having responded to a Request for Interest earlier in 2018;
• the tender documents indicated that the process would be open until January 18, 2019, and XTM’s submission was accepted by PWGSC when XTM sent it;
• PWGSC renamed the process and updated the tender documents without making every effort to advertise these changes and to ensure that all potential bidders were aware of them.

ANALYSIS

[5]  On February 8, 2019, the Tribunal decided not to conduct an inquiry into the complaint, pursuant to subsection 30.13(1) of the CITT Act.

[6]  Pursuant to sections 6 and 7 of the Regulations, the Tribunal may conduct an inquiry if the following conditions are met:

• the complaint has been filed within the time limits prescribed by section 6; [3]
• the complainant is a potential supplier; [4]
• the complaint is in respect of a designated contract; [5] and
• the information provided discloses a reasonable indication that the government institution did not conduct the procurement in accordance with the applicable trade agreements. [6]

[7]  Subsection 6(1) of the Regulations provides that a potential supplier who files a complaint with the Tribunal in accordance with section 30.11 of the Act shall do so not later than 10 working days after the day on which the basis of the complaint became known to the potential supplier.

[8]  In this case, XTM became aware of the basis of its complaint at the latest [7] on January 21, 2019, when it received the e-mail from PWGSC informing it that its bid would not be accepted given that the solicitation process was closed. As such, XTM would have had until February 4, 2019, to file its complaint. The complaint was filed with the Tribunal on February 8, 2019.

[9]  Therefore, this complaint does not meet the first condition for the initiation of an inquiry.

DECISION

[10]  Pursuant to subsection 30.13(1) of the CITT Act, the Tribunal has decided not to conduct an inquiry into the complaint.