Article content continued

If so, it marks a significant change from the current policy, which mandates an automatic 10-year suspension for any corporation that violates the Integrity Regime, which could be reduced under certain circumstances to five years.

Some lawyers said there may have been ways to negotiate with the registrar and find loopholes to reduce a 10-year, or even five-year penalty, but the perception of the policy has been that it was inflexible.

“It was very much intended to be a strict regime,” said Gerry Stobo, a procurement lawyer with Cassidy Levy Kent. “If you were convicted of one of the (qualifying) offences, the government of Canada would not be doing business with you.”

Records indicate that SNC lobbied Public Services and Procurement Canada, including assistant deputy minister Barbara Glover eight times between 2016 and 2017, although no detail is provided about the substance of these meetings.

It was very much intended to be a strict regime Gerry Stobo, procurement lawyer with Cassidy Levy Kent

The company is the only entity that currently has an administrative agreement with PSPC that allows it to continue bidding and working on federal contracts despite the pending charges against it.

SNC-Lavalin declined to comment for this article.

Lawyers who practice in the procurement area said corporate suppliers have long expressed concerns that the current debarment and ineligibility system is inflexible in that it automatically mandates 10-year suspensions.

PSPC initiated a public consultation on its ‘Ineligibility and Suspension Policy’ in the fall of 2017, and incorporated feedback such as the need for “greater flexibility in debarment decisions” in its proposed changes.