74.1. To ensure that suppliers responding to a tender solicitation are treated with fairness and impartiality, the electric power distributor shall establish and submit for approval to the Régie, which shall make its decision within 90 days, a tender solicitation and contract awarding procedure and a tender solicitation code of ethics applicable to the electric power supply contracts required to meet the needs of Québec markets in excess of the heritage pool, or the needs to be supplied out of an energy block determined by regulation of the Government under subparagraph 2.1 of the first paragraph of section 112.
The tender solicitation and contract awarding procedure shall, in particular,(1) allow all interested suppliers to tender by requiring the tender solicitation to be issued in due time;
(2) grant equal treatment to all sources of supply and energy efficiency projects unless the tender specifications provide that all or part of the needs met by a particular source of supply must be supplied out of an energy block determined by regulation of the Government;
(3) favour the awarding of supply contracts based on the lowest tendered price for the required quantity of electric power and in keeping with the required conditions, taking into account the applicable transmission cost and, where the tender specifications provide that all or part of the needs met by a particular source of supply must be supplied out of an energy block, taking into account the maximum price established by regulation of the Government; and
(4) provide that, following a tender solicitation, contracts may be awarded to two or more suppliers, in which case a supplier offering the required quantity of electric power may be invited to reduce the quantity offered without modifying the tendered unit price.
An energy efficiency project to which a tender solicitation applies under subparagraph 2 of the second paragraph must meet the stability, sustainability and reliability requirements that apply to conventional sources of supply.
The Régie may dispense the electric power distributor from soliciting tenders for short-term contracts or where urgent needs must be met.
For the purposes of this section, the promoter of an energy efficiency project is deemed to be an electric power supplier.
2000, c. 22, s. 27; 2006, c. 46, s. 43.