Contrat de gré à gré (mutual-agreement contract)

In Quebec public procurement, a contrat de gré à gré is a contract a public body concludes directly with a supplier of its choosing — by mutual agreement — instead of running an open call for tenders. It is the counterpart to the public call for tenders (appel d'offres public), which is published in the government's electronic tendering system (SEAO).

What it is

Per the Autorité des marchés publics (AMP), suppliers conclude gré à gré contracts with a public body below the public call-for-tenders thresholds, and being solicited for a call for tenders on invitation is a related route for making your products or services known to public bodies. The framework comes from the Loi sur les contrats des organismes publics (LCOP, chapter C-65.1) and its regulations, which public bodies must comply with when awarding supply, service and construction contracts. A gré à gré is not a free pass: the LCOP sets out the conditions under which a public body may award without a call for tenders, and some situations require the public body's chief executive to authorize the contract and report it annually to the Conseil du trésor.

The authorization-of-contract angle

Integrity rules still apply. For contracts and subcontracts meeting the government-set thresholds — $5 million for construction and public-private partnership contracts and $1 million for service contracts — the enterprise must hold an authorization to contract (autorisation de contracter) issued by the AMP, and for a gré à gré that authorization must be held at the date the contract is signed. Suppliers on the losing side of this system have rights too: the LCOP's remedial framework, administered through the AMP, includes complaint mechanisms for tendering processes.

What it means for vendors

Gré à gré work rarely lands in your inbox uninvited. Because below-threshold and invited-solicitation business depends on public bodies already knowing you, the AMP's own advice to suppliers is to proactively make your products and services known to the organizations you want to sell to. Monitor SEAO for invitations in your specialty, register with the organizations in your sector, and keep your compliance paperwork — Revenu Québec attestation, AMP authorization if your contract values will reach the thresholds, RBQ licence if you are in construction — current so you can sign quickly when a direct award comes through.

Common questions

Is gré à gré the same as sole-sourcing federally?

They are cousins, not twins. Gré à gré is the Quebec LCOP term for awarding without a call for tenders; federally, the comparable concept is contracting directly without competitive solicitation, governed by the federal rule framework. The thresholds and justifications differ by jurisdiction.

Can a public body use gré à gré above the tendering thresholds?

Only in the limited situations the LCOP and its regulations allow, such as emergencies or cases where only one contractor is possible — and those awards carry extra conditions, including CEO authorization and annual reporting to the Conseil du trésor.

Related definitions

SEAO · LCOP · Autorisation de contracter · Sole-source procurement · Direct award vs. competitive procurement