Evaluating joint venture bids

Evaluating joint venture bids is the process of assessing a bid submitted by an association of two or more parties that combine resources to bid together. The buyer applies the evaluation rules, criteria and conditions written into the solicitation, and the joint venture is scored against the same requirements as any other bidder.

In Canadian federal procurement, joint venture bids are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The approach depends on the procurement requirement and on the terms and conditions of the solicitation and any resulting contract, as Public Services and Procurement Canada states in its guidance on the greenhouse gas disclosure standard. The solicitation document, not a general rule, tells a bid team how its joint venture will be assessed.

How federal solicitations define a joint venture

Canadian requests for proposals define a joint venture as an association of two or more parties that combine money, property, knowledge, expertise or other resources in a single business enterprise to bid on a requirement. A federal request for proposals on CanadaBuys sets out this definition and the rules that follow from it.

The same solicitation requires a joint venture to identify clearly that it is bidding as a joint venture. The bidder provides the name and Procurement Business Number of each member and, where applicable, the representative member and the name of the joint venture. Evaluators use this information to confirm who is bidding before they assess anything else.

What evaluators check on a joint venture bid

Bids are assessed against all of the requirements and evaluation criteria in the solicitation. The Shared Services Canada standard instructions for procurement documents add several points that apply to joint ventures:

• Unless the solicitation says otherwise, each member of a joint venture bidder must meet the security requirements.
• A joint venture with existing experience as that joint venture may submit the experience it obtained as the joint venture.
• Where a requirement must be substantiated, the bidder must indicate which joint venture member satisfies it.

Some federal solicitations also reserve Canada's right to apply additional scrutiny, or to reject bids, when multiple bids come from a single bidder or joint venture and their inclusion could prejudice the integrity or fairness of the evaluation.

Technical merit and price scoring

Federal requests for proposals may rank responsive bids, including joint venture bids, using a combined rating of technical merit and price. Each solicitation states its own weighting. Examples in CanadaBuys documents use ratios of 60/40 or 70/30, as shown in this request for proposals and this second request for proposals. A joint venture must first be responsive, meaning it meets the mandatory requirements, before its technical and price results are combined.

Case-by-case evaluation at NATO

The case-by-case principle also appears outside the federal government. NATO states that bids are evaluated case by case by the respective procuring NATO body, on its procurement opportunities page. A supplier bidding as a joint venture on a NATO requirement must follow the instructions, eligibility conditions, evaluation criteria and documentation requirements in that specific solicitation.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Read the solicitation's joint venture clauses before you decide on a bid structure. Confirm how the buyer wants the joint venture identified, and collect each member's name and Procurement Business Number early. Check whether every member must hold the required security clearance, because the default is that each one does.

When the solicitation asks you to substantiate experience, decide in advance which member satisfies each requirement and say so in the bid. If the joint venture has worked together before, include that experience as the joint venture. Submit one clear bid per bidder or joint venture, so that the evaluation cannot be questioned on fairness grounds.